It's a Navi's World
by thecrazyfanficcer
Summary: What will happen when Mega Man.EXE, NetNavi of twelve year old crimefighter extraordinaire, Lan Hikari, wakes up to find himself in the Real World? Craziness follows, of course, coupled with a looong adventure...
1. A Navi in the Real World

**Hey, everyone! This is currently my longest fanfic so far, so I will be posting it one chapter at a time. **

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Mega Man.  
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** Mega Man's POV**

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Sunlight slanted through the thin gap in the window and hit me in the face. I stretched and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I blinked.

_Wait a minute,_ I thought, trying to be rational. _For one thing I'm a Navi. I can't really fall asleep, and there's no sunlight in the Internet._

But one glance at the sleeping figure next to me confirmed my fears. _Okay, calm down, _I told myself. _You're not human, you're having a hallucination and your Net Op is not sleeping right next to you_.

But then I glanced down at Lan again. He hadn't noticed me; his breathing was as heavy and regular as it always was at eight thirty on a Saturday morning. Okay, so I _was_ a human.

I took a deep breath. I spotted the window on the wall to the right of Lan's bed, opened slightly so that the sun could come in. Not that it would wake him up. Nope, nothing like a responsible NetNavi to wake a reluctant Operator up on a Saturday morning. I grinned suddenly. It was time for some fun.

Carefully stepping around the bed so as not to wake Lan, I made my way over to the window, grasped hold of the handle and prepared to pull it open. But then the sunlight shined down, and I glimpsed my hands for the first time.

I flipped them over. I've never taken my gloves off, and seeing my hands for the first time came as almost of a shock to me. But hands are hands; once I had gotten over it, I adjusted my slightly, so that I could see past the smooth glass.

Gazing across the rippling grass and soaring skyscrapers that were the goal that lay ahead of me, I absently ran my fingers along my helmet. But there was no helmet! All I felt was smooth black hair, spiked up at the back. It had always lain there under my helmet, but this was new and... Well, let's just say I felt excitement stirring up deep inside me.

Still amazed, I grabbed the handle and levered myself through the window ledge, crouched on it like Spider-Man on the Daily Bugle headquarters as I watched my sleeping Operator._ Goodbye,_ _Lan_, I thought with a grin._ Your Navi is going on an adventure._

I vaulted neatly onto the grass outside Lan's house, looking from the thriving monopolis that was DenTech City to the green plains of the surrounding fields and meadows. And let my conscience run wild.

"YEEEEAAAH!"

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**Heh heh heh... Mega Man going crazy. How do you like that? Well, see ya, fanficcers! **


	2. Fields and Meadows

** Mega Man's POV**

I stood on the grass, feeling as if the whole world was spread around me. The sun on my back, the breeze ruffling my hair, the ground under my feet, it was all so new to me! I mean, sure, I've stood on solid ground before, but it was nothing like this! I could feel every single blade of green grass under the soles of my sneakered feet.

And this breeze! It was a cool kind of force that just swept past me, whipping my spiky black hair in the breeze. The sunlight! Man oh man, the sunlight was awesome! I could feel it shining brightly on my back, so hot, so hot!

And, without thinking, without doing anything, I started to run. Running is great on the Internet and all, but there are corners and stairways and all sorts of other stuff that you run head-on into. Running here under the bright blue sky was, well, awesome.

The sun beat on my back as I ran as hard and as fast as I ever had in my life, shining with an earthly brightness. The humans had all sorts of things we Navis didn't have, most of whom would kill for an adventure like this.

I stopped running and knelt down by a small pool of water. My face stared back at me, excited and yet confused.

I studied my reflection for a while. Those bright green eyes stared back at me, and my dark hair, same as always. But my clothes were different. A black T-shirt, along with a pair of jeans, made up my human ensemble. But there was also a necklace there, with the familiar red, black and yellow crest. I rubbed it unconsciously. So I really was a human.

I looked up abruptly and recommenced my running. Things were going great for Mega Man the human, and I wasn't done with my tour of the Real World.

A tree rose on the horizon, tall and majestic. In one flowing movement, I changed course and headed for it. I charged up my legs and did a kind of power-run to the magnificent old oak.

I vaulted onto a low-hanging branch covered in moss. For a moment I was surprised at my own strength, but then again, running all over the Internet in the pursuit of evil Navis can't put you in the worst physical condition, can it?

Grinning broadly, I seized an apple and bit into it, watching the horizon. Who knew what sort of adventures awaited me?


	3. The Awakening of Lan Hikari

**Lan's POV**

"Mega Man!"

Those were the words that echoed around the field as I ran as fast and as hard as I could, looking for my Navi. Something had definitely been wrong this morning when I'd woken up to find my PET gone. I had been planning to e-mail my friends to tell them, but then I'd remembered that I couldn't without the terminal. My fellow crimefighter Yai might have one of the last remaining telephones in the world, but you can't say it doesn't come in handy.

For some estranged reason, I, following my gut as I always did, had been drawn to the fields to the west of DenTech City, which was weird because if it was anywhere it would be somewhere in the thriving monopolis that made up my hometown. That probably explained why I was running as fast as I could in the wrong direction, looking for something that probably wasn't there - because of my instinct.

I stopped running abruptly. There was nothing on the horizon, except that old oak my Navi had been strangely attracted to whenever he caught a good view of it from my PET stand. _Oh, no..._ I left the thought hanging as a revelation dawned on me. The gut instinct to run to the fields, the fact that Mega had always looked in awe and admiration at it every time we passed...and the figure perched comfortably in the branches. The pieces of the puzzle were sliding together.

Mega Man was in the tree.


	4. The Weirdness of it All

**Oh, groan, another short chappie… Might as well add the reviewer replies.**

**Shadowneko003: Yeah, I knew that. It doesn't really make much of a difference in this fic, even near the ending. But if you're really interested in that sort of thing, I suggest you check out Neko-Salosa's Rockman.exe fanfic, Essence of Humanity. It's awesome! And, yeah, thanks a lot for reviewing.**

**Mister Frodo: Yes, this one's short, too. As a matter of fact, most of the chapters are all pretty short – I wrote them as I went along… Yes, glad you liked it, and thanks!**

**Jhvh777: Mega Man? In trouble? Nope. You can count on it. Thanks for the review!**

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**Lan's POV**

Yep, there was definitely something strange about seeing your Navi right above you, eating in an apple as he sat, watching the sky, in an old tree that you used to play pretend in when you were five years old.

I know it sounds strange, but I didn't have my Navi back then.

Anyway, I hadn't noticed him at first because he was facing to the north of where I stood, and at first glance I had thought, _Hey! That guy looks like Mega Man!_

Another look, and I thought:_ Hey! That guy _is_ Mega Man!_

Either way, he didn't see me at first. So, I decided to hide in the shade of a big old maple nearby, get my bearings in, you know, make sure that it really _was_ my Navi that I was seeing, perched on a low-hanging branch of the old oak tree behind my house.

I crept around the maple's trunk, leaning back casually so it would look like I was just a guy. But then I realized my orange jacket, spiky hair and black schoolbag were all to telltale, so I very quietly undid my jacket and dropped my schoolbag. Well, I tried to be quiet, anyway.

Luckily for me Mega Man was looking ahead and didn't hear the loud ripping sound of me tearing off my jacket, but I was directly to his right, so if he turned away from the bright afternoon sun-BAM!-I would be caught.

After a while, I decided it was useless, so, shaking my head to clear myself, I made my way over to where my humanized Navi sat, staring ahead.

Just then, he happened to glance down.


	5. A Strange Reunion

**Hey, everyone! Pikasqueaks is my mascot – an annoying little Pikachu who chases me all around the site. Yes, I know… Everything's getting crazy. (crazed laughter emits from its gaping hole of a mouth) Right, so this fanfic takes place sometime during Battle Network 3 - Lan, Maylu and Dex are still twelve, Tory is eleven and Yai is ten.**

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**Mega Man's POV**

He was at the foot of the tree, looking up at me. I hadn't noticed him at first; I was watching the sky as I ate my apple. I mean, Navis, well, you know, don't eat anything. (blushes). Well, come on! It was all so new to me, this cool world; Lan's world which went past my farthest imaginings, and this sense of taste was just so amazing.

The apple had a strong, tangy, if a little bitter, taste. Sometimes I'd watched, from where the PET was in its recharger, little kids go playing at sunrise, laughing and joking and having fun together. I'd wondered what it was like, playing around the tree with your friends. Now I knew.

Gradually I became aware I was being watched. I'd noticed someone settling down under the maple tree to my west before, but I hadn't really paid attention. All I'd seen was a blur of orange and white.

Orange and white! Oh no. Don't tell me. My Operator!

I glanced down instinctively. There he was, looking up at me with this kind of almost drooling, openmouthed, absolutely amazed expression on his face.

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Lan: I was not drooling!

Mega Man! I said _almost_ drooling.

Pikasqueaks: Ooh! Finally some character interaction. Keep it up, Fanficcer!

Lan: (turning to Fanficcer) Who is this guy and what in the world is he talking about?

Pikasqueaks: (puffing himself up) I am not just a guy! I am-

Thecrazyfanficcer: Just a crazy Pokémon. Ignore him.

Lan: So_ that _explains the insanity.

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"Hey," he said.

"Hey," I answered, carefully jumping down from the branch. We faced each other, quiet for a few seconds.

It was kind of weird, you know? Like having a pen pal that you've never actually seen before, and when you meet them it's like "Oh man, this is so weird..."

Well, that's how it was for me. I was standing there, looking right at the guy who I had known and not known for approximately one and three quarters years of my life, and my thoughts were going something like:_ Wow. It's finally happened. I knew it would happen, but I didn't know it would happen._

Lan finally broke the moment. "So, uh, you know..."

"What happened?" I finished the sentence for him.

"Yeah," he said, blushing a little, clearly embarrassed, "You know, how'd it happen?"

"Um..."

Five minutes later, the story had leaked out, or to one person, anyway. "We've got to get to-"

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"SciLabs," Lan finished fifteen minutes later, pulling my arm along. In that strange anime way of his, he had somehow managed to hop into his roller skates and drag me all ten miles to the DenTech Laboratories, and in hyperspeed on top of it.

"Here we are," he panted, looking up at the gleaming white building. He was about to drag me into the building like a rag doll, but I wrenched away from his grasp and looked up at the lab.

"Oh, great, what are we gonna do?" Lan stood at the keypad right next to the door of the lab, this totally confused expression on his face.

"Lan!" called a voice. We both turned around. Yai Ayano, ten year-old genius, was running toward us, a sheet of paper flying in her hand.

"Guys!" Yai fought her way between us and began typing in the code on the keypad, her pale fingers a blur on the colour-coded square buttons. "Maylu told me about it. Here are the codes." She shoved the sheet of paper up my hands and loped off into the sunset.

"Don't ask me how she knew," said Yai, popping back to us from the other side of the street when Lan opened his mouth to speak. "Word gets around." And then she sped off again.

"Well, at least now we have the codes to open the door," approved Lan, walking through the entrance .

"We should tell them, though," I mused thoughtfully, glancing up at the metallic silver-gray ceiling as I followed Lan into the complex. "Your friends, I mean. If this is for life, at least they can help us."

Lan shrugged.

"Oh, Lan," I said suddenly, and I could feel the sweat dripping down my forehead, "What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, little Mega Man. I have a plan."

I groaned. This could get ugly.


	6. The Father of All Navis

**Lan's POV**

I led Mega Man to a nice shaded corner of the lab, bright under the white spotlights. "We'll start by turning off all the power," I said, warming to my plan.

"Quick! Hide!" I cried suddenly, crushing my Navi against a wall as a scientist hurried past, swinging his briefcase.

"What was that for?" Mega said irritably, rubbing his head where he'd bumped it against the wall.

"Scientists," I explained as I pushed him against the wall again.

"You have this light in your eyes. That's a danger sign," he replied. "Now how are we going to let your dad know without anyone seeing?"

"Simple," I answered, leaning down and swivelling a computer screen toward me.

Mega groaned.

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I had hacked into the DenTech Lab system with the codes Yai had given us, so now the codes on the locks in the room where Dad worked were all disabled. I yawned, dragging my Navi/human over to the open doorway.

"You know, I'm almost used to all these crazy adventures now," he told me as we walked, jerking his hand away. "But be careful. You don't know what could happen."

"Dad'll know what to do," I assured him, but I wasn't as sure as I sounded. What if something went wrong and I didn't have my Navi, human or otherwise? "He invented the Navi."

We were in a small room, lined with a bunch of steel-coloured consoles and a bunch of scientists, clicking rapidly as they scoured the Internet in search of a new Navi upgrade.

Just then, I saw a tall woman scientist walking toward us, and I could tell by her expression that she was going to tell us to get out, that it was a restricted section.

"Watch and learn, little humanized Navi, watch and learn," I whispered to Mega Man as she came near.

"Excuse me, but children aren't allowed in here without permission," said the scientist, tapping my shoulder. "And unless you have something to do, you should leave, if you don't mind my asking."

I made this totally cute face, with these giant puppy-dog eyes and a winning puckered mouth that made her relent in about a second. "We're he'e to see me pap," I said, like a tiny little beggar, sniffling. "We ha'ent seen him in a lon' time," I sniffed, giving her the cute face.

"Aw," remarked the scientist appreciatively. "All right, you can go."

"Why'd you have to do that?" Mega Man complained as I walked over to the door on the far end of the dark room. "We could have just, well, done something else."

"What else could we have done?" I challenged, smirking as I lifted up the sheet Yai had given us. "See, even the great Mega Man, human Navi, doesn't know."

He rolled his eyes and muttered something about that not being the point. I grinned to myself as I read Yai's tiny, neat cursive.

"Yai thought of everything, didn't she?" I marveled. " 'Your dad works in a special place at the back of the lab, I think it's because he's so important. You guys have to turn right after typing the code in and then left at the next turn, then type in another code and the door will open. Your father's in there.' " I stared over the top of the sheet at Mega. "Do you really think he'll be able to help us?"

He looked up, giving me a small, but definite nod. "Yeah. Let's do this." And just like that, we went in.


	7. The Properties of Being Human

**Mega Man's POV**

I was following Lan, not really knowing what else to do, and man! The way that guy weaved his way through crowds of people and cute-faced his way out of sticky situations was incredible! I mean, it was like, well, he was born to do it, as if it were is thing - alongside Netbattling, that is.

Well, not-so-carefully following Yai's directions, Lan and I soon ended up in front of a dark metal door. We were in a dark, shaded hallway, empty except for this single door, this pathway to other places, other things, and possibly our future. Then my Net Op typed in the code.

This was where Lan hesitated. He paused for a minute, like he was wondering what to do, glancing at me. I nodded again, but I was as sure as the next guy. What if things went wrong and I was gone forever, tumbled into the chasm that was the barrier between living as a human and total obliteration?

"Lan?" I said, suddenly getting scared. "What if something bad happens?"

"It'll be alright," said Lan, grinning. Then seeing my worried face, he said, "If not you can get to live as a human."

And we went in.

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The room was empty except for a man in a corner, hunched over a compact laptop. The room had only one window and was bathed in dark gray light, like the hallway we'd come in from.

The man looked up from his typing. I could tell it was Lan's father, but his brown hair was unusually messy and his glasses were lopsided.

"Lan?" he said amazedly. "_Mega Man_?"

"Uh, Dad?" said Lan, shifting slightly. "We have something to tell you."

So we told him the story. At least, Lan did. I just nodded now and then, feeling incredibly awkward.

When we had finished, Dr. Hikari didn't say anything for a while, his brow furrowed and concentrated. Just when I was about to ask if he was alright, he bean to speak.

"I knew this was going to happen one day," he muttered. He didn't seem to see us.

I plucked up my courage enough to say, "What?"

He looked up at us. "When Navis were invented seventeen years ago (yay! 2006!), it was said that one day a human and his Navi would defy many odds against the makeup of the NetNavigator." He paused, looking up at us. "And it was said that one day Navis would learn the true benefit of being human."

"That's it?" Lan asked. To tell you the truth, he seemed kind of shocked that there wasn't more. In that case, guess who the Operator and his Navi would be. That's right. Us.

Dr. Hikari nodded. "Yeah. But no one actually said what would happen when it did happen, so I'm going to have to do some tests." He straightened his glasses. "Mega Man, hold out your arm."

"Why?" I asked, rolling up my sleeve and sticking out my arm.

"I need some DNA for now," Dr. Hikari informed me, opening a drawer of his desk with one hand and fumbling with its contents. "Later we might get blood tests and stuff." His search proved a small syringe filled with a clear liquid. "DNA-absorbing liquid," he said when he saw us looking at it, sticking the needle in my outstretched arm. He shook out the syringe, squeezing a single drop into a silvery see-through basin on his desk. "I have to analyze this DNA, see if it's human DNA or not."

Something about his words made my stomach lurch and fill up with butterflies. The others, however, didn't seem to notice.

"We'll be gone now," said Lan, grabbing my arm hard. "See you in a bit."

Dr. Hikari nodded, apparently not realizing that his son and his Navi had disappeared. Off to have some (more) crazy adventures.

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My thoughts were racing in realization of what we had just heard as we made our way out of the lab. Lan glanced at me, seeming amazed.

"Whoa, Mega, you okay?" He waved his hand in front of my face. "Earth to Mega Man."

I looked at him, my heart pounding. "Did you hear him, Lan?" I told him, keeping my voice low. "I could get deleted or worse."

"He said he didn't know what would happen." He looked at me again. "Come on, Mega Man, no need to worry."

"All right, but where are we going to go now?" I asked, rubbing my stomach. "Shouldn't we tell your mother?"

He shook his head, a mischievous look that I had seen all too often in his eyes. "It's always funner if they don't know," he said, his brown eyes gleaming. "Come on!"

Ever felt like you've had too many crazy adventures?

First we went over to Lan's house, a small blue and white building on the horizon. "Mom won't know," said Lan, skating ahead of me and zipping through the front door, which he easily opened at the same time. "She's out shopping."

I followed Lan up to his room, a little uncertainly, not sure of what I was supposed to be doing. But my Net Op was cool as a cucumber, and bounded up the stairs, casual as anything. I could just imagine him waiting for me, one hand on the dresser, his eyes half-closed in that expression he had when (wink wink) he was trying to impress his friend Mayl.

Indeed, when I got there, he was doing exactly that, but his hand was on his closet and he seemed more excited than anything, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"If you're gonna be a human, Mega Man, you have to look it too," said Lan smartly, tapping his hand on the door of the dresser. And then he went into a frenzy, whipping around and flicking open the twin doors with a spread of his hands.

"And now we play the waiting game," I joked as I watched my crazy Operator, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Assorted items flew past my head: various clothes, of course, T-shirts and shorts and sweaters that I had never even known Lan owned, along with some other stuff: a binder full of BattleChips, for example, and a bunch of outdated-looking Navi power-ups.

I watched the stream of assorted articles for a while until Lan had finally found what he was looking for. Holding it in his hands, he muttered a silent "Aha!" before tossing it to me.

I caught the bundle in my hands, looking at it. "What's this for?" I asked, starting to unfold it.

"It's a sweater," said my Net Op, and I could see that expression on his face that only Lan Hikari can have. "It has a hood so you can hide your face."

I shook out the dark green sweater and glanced at the red Adidas logo splashed on the chest. Shrugging nonchalantly, I tossed it over my head, zipping up the hood.

"Oh! And the last touch," Lan said eagerly, running over to his desk and slowly, carefully, pulling a small hidden drawer out. I leaned closer unconsciously as I watched to see the contents of the secret drawer. Lan gave me a mischievous look, put a finger to his lips, and took out what looked like two transparent blue ovals.

"Here." Lan handed the transparent ovals to me. "Try them on."

"What are they?" I asked, turning them over in my hands.

"Contact lens. They were my mother's. Go on, try them."

I carefully lifted one of the lens to my eye, opening it wide and poking the glass oval up between my eyelids. "What, your mother wears contacts?" I asked, amazed.

"Yeah, but they're brown like her eyes," said Lan, and the way he was shiftily looking form side to side gave me the impression that he was up to something. "She was trying to try out another colour, I guess."

As soon as I had poked the other lens up my eye, Lan grinned almost evilly. "Take a look," he breathed, pointing to the bathroom attached to his room.

Wondering at what I looked like dressed in human clothes and almost laughing at the thought, I made my way over to the bathroom door, which was slightly ajar. I swung it open wide and gazed out at myself through the mirror.

Mega Man EXE stared back out at me, same as always, except now, instead of in the normal Navi tightsuit, I was dressed in a green Adidas sweatshirt and jeans. My eyes were blue-not dark blue like Chaud's, Lan's mortal enemy, but sky-blue, an almost cerulean colour that sort of suited me.

I glanced back at my Operator, my heart beating in my rib cage. He was leaning against the bathroom door, his eyes gleaming in a way that only Lan's could.

"What you think, Mega Man the human?" Lan asked, with that casual look, his eyes half-closed. He stared at me intently through the cool-kid barrier that was forming an aura around him.

I grinned. I couldn't help it. "It's perfect," I said.


	8. Woes in the Life of a Twelve Year Old

**Reviewer reply!**

**Jhvh777: Nah, Mega can take care of himself, of course. (grins evilly) As for the name, you can keep guessing – it's totally insane the way this fic has turned out. You won't find out just yet, though.**

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**Mega Man's POV**

I stared back at my Operator as he skated away in to the distance. As soon as the speck of orange and white that I knew was Lan had disappeared, I turned to the one and only Dex Ogreon.

Dex grinned suddenly. Oh, so _that's_ why Roll is always saying Dex and Lan are alike. And the way he was grinning at me now made me think, _He's up to something. _Which he was, of course.

"I'm going to do you in tonight," he declared, an evil glint in his slitted eyes as he crossed his arms and did that evil-grin thing again. He towered up over me; he was so tall. "Human versus Navi. One on one. We'll see who wins this time Bet you anything I can beat you with my hands tied behind my back."

"Good one, Dex," I joked as I made my way past his blocking figure, punching him as I did so. The former bully's face contorted and twisted in pain, but I only grinned and moved on. "I beat Guts Man the first day that I met him. Like I can't beat you."

Dex actually seemed angry; he lunged, as if to punish me for my rude words. I laughed and shoved him into a nearby wall – purposefully, of course, but not too hard.

"You-you-" He wriggled furiously as I effortlessly lifted him from the wall and grabbed him by the wrist. "You'll pay for this!"

I shrugged and let him back down. In a few seconds, however, he had cooled off, decently enough.

"So," was Dex's new choice of story starter. He crossed his arms and looked at me. I gave him an oh-really kind of look back. "What's it like being a Navi in the Real World?"

"It's great," I answered, grinning, but it was a smile of pure exhilaration and excitement, not that crazy sort of look Lan always gets on his face when he's up to something. "You guys have all sorts of stuff that us Navis don't have."

"Like what?" asked Dex, opening the door to the living room and motioning for me to follow him. "The Real World's not that great."

"That's because you guys take it for granted," I replied, making my way around the cluttered kitchen as I followed my Net Op's best friend to the second floor.

"You think?" Dex answered skeptically, jumping the last three steps as he bounded to the above landing.

"Well, yeah," I answered, secretly shocked that Dex could have all this stuff and still not know it.

He paused thoughtfully for a second. "Good point." Then, as if he didn't know what else to talk about, he said, "This is my room."

I poked my head through the doorway. Dex's room was basically the same as Lan's, except there was a table in the right-hand corner of the room. There was a purple Gameboy Advance on it, with a cartridge called Mega Man Battle Network 2 in the slot. (Hah, Mega doesn't even know he's in a video game.)

"You can sleep in this," Dex informed me, walking over to his closet, which was set into the wall at the end of the room. He threw open the door and started to pull out an ancient blue sleeping bag.

"It's big. We can both use it," I told Dex, sitting down on the bed and watching him. It was the first time I'd seen him up close before, and I took stock of his looks. He was a little taller than Lan, and chubby. He was African-American, mulatto by the looks of it, with a spiky brown mohawk perched on his otherwise bald head. He was wearing his traditional green T-shirt and blue shorts and big sneakers. Splashed on his chest was his and Guts Man's crest, a green cross encircled by a silver band. And, finally, tied around Dex's neck and hanging down to his chest, was his pale-blue PET, with his and Guts Man's emblem on one corner.

"You think?" asked Dex, and I watched in amazement as he wrestled with the dusty blue sleeping bag, coughing, before finally managing to toss it back into his closet and slamming the door. "I've been alone for almost as long as I can remember. I don't even remember sleeping with my parents as a little kid."

"Hey," I said, yawning suddenly, "Why not?" And without further notice, I lay down and fell asleep.

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**Well, there you have it. Chapter 9. I think Dex is mulatto, but I'm not sure. If he isn't, tell me in your review… You will review, right? (puppy-dog eyes)**


	9. A Night at Dex's House

**Reviewer replies:**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Ergh, poor Morgan… Wait a minute, did you say I have to put in more detail in or that it was good that there was detail? Ah, whatever… Thanks for reviewing!**

**Jhvh777: Originally, Lan was supposed to raise his eyebrows and his mom was supposed to give him a look. But I changed it. (grins evilly) As for the name, it finally gets revealed in this chapter! Yay! Finally!**

**PS: Thanks for the review!**

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**Mega Man's POV**

I followed Dex uncertainly the next morning into his basement. "Come on, MM!" he called over to where I had paused, hesitantly, halfway down the steps.

"What are you doing?" I called down, gripping the railing tighter as I climbed down the staircase.

The shadows dispersed as Dex came into view, and what he was doing made my jaw drop open in amazement, horror and shock. But mostly amazement.

Dex was standing in the middle of his basement, among all the clutter, but what had me really shocked was the fact that _a bass guitar was hanging from Dex's back._

No joke, seriously. A large purple bass was hanging from Dex's broad backside. It was so big that I could see it poking out from the sides of his rib cage and above his head, but I guess all that weight is useful for something. In one hand, he carried a small green amp, which he carelessly dropped down on the floor I watched.

"Dex - what are you _doing_?" I asked, my eyes so wide that I could almost feel the contact lenses popping off.

"Well, I figured if there's someone else in the house besides me, we might as well have some fun together, right?" Dex replied, thrusting a guitar in my direction. "Well, that's if you won't NetBattle." He shook a fist in my direction, and I rolled my eyes.

"I don't have a Navi, Dex, remember?" I asked as I held the guitar at arm's length, surveying it with a confused eye. "You want me to play with you?" I asked skeptically.

"Well yeah. Here, take a pick." Dex tossed me one at the same time as he reached down and flicked the on switch on the amp, but I could almost see the pleading in his eyes.

I gave him a look, but then-

All of a sudden, heavy metal rock flowed out through the amp's speakers, nearly bursting my eardrums. "Hold on, Dex. Stop." I clamped my hands onto my ears and glared as Lan's best friend looked up at me curiously.

"What?" he asked. "Should I lower the volume or something?"

"Yeah," I answered gratefully, nodding. "That's exactly it."

Dex shrugged and twiddled the volume knob a little bit so that when he pushed back the on switch again, the music had been reduced to something that at least didn't burst my eardrums. Geez, that would be horrible. A Navi couldn't do much good in the Real World if they were deaf. The good thing was, Dex seemed to have forgotten his previous anger, which was a good thing. Dex must be like, what, a hundred and twenty pounds, you know – imagining him going for me. I'm not elaborating.

Anyway, as soon as the music issue had been properly solved, I watched in total and complete amazement as Dex prepared to strum his own guitar, his body twisting and gyrating smoothly to the tunes of AC/DC. He was actually good, too! I mean, you wouldn't even expect a guy like that to like rock music, but he did it like a natural.

"Rock on, Mega buddy!" Dex called out as he now proceeded to do the grand finale, incredibly loud and well, awesome, all the while turned up to the light so that he looked like a pro. And…. Here it comes… (Beethoven music playing)… He was playing like a pro, too!

I suddenly remembered the guitar in my fist and swung it gingerly into my open palms. Well, who'd a thunk it? It actually felt good, and I wasn't even playing yet! For the first time in my life - the first time! - I was in the Real World, and on top of it all I was about to belt out rock tunes on a guitar that wasn't even my own, and I was actually enjoying it! Either I was crazy, or the world had flipped over, which wasn't a nearly as good alternative at the time.

We played until the album ended and prepared to play the next one; then Dex grabbed my wrist and yanked me down into a bow. When we surfaced, he waved his guitar above his head, lifting my own arm up like a referee in a boxing match. Then he struck one last chord, so loud that the sound resonated in the room for minutes afterward, before chucking his guitar across the room and into the case, where the top half slammed down shut over it, the clasps buckling themselves as if by magic.

Dex and I stuffed my guitar and the other ones lying around the room back in the cases, which was when the big guy swung back up onto his feet so he could face me. "Well, little buddy, how did you like your first time as a rock star?" he asked me, grinning so wide I could see all of his not-so-white teeth.

I couldn't help it. I grinned too. "I like it," I said, and that was that.

----------------------------------------------------

A little while later, when we'd put the amps away, I followed Dex self-consciously as he made his way over to the park where he was going to meet Lan and Arnie. It would be good to see my Operator again, I knew, but still a little freaky considering I was supposed to be in the Cyberworld and not in the Real World with him.

"But how'd you learn to play like that?" I wondered aloud as our feet crunched under the old willow tree at the entrance of the old park. The willow's leaves were always falling down, I recalled-but how?-and I remembered seeing it every time the gang had to go to good old Dentec park.

Dex shrugged, one hand on Guts Man's PET, which was hanging from his neck as always. "When I was a little kid, I played on the electric guitar they had there. I was so famous the salesman actually recognised me." He looked up and gave me the world's most gigantic grin. "My parents decided to get me a bass, and I've been playing ever since."

I paused in my tracks, wondering about it all - at least, that is, until Dex told me that the other two had appeared. I snapped out of my trance and followed him under the shade of the big squirrel slide.

"Here we are," Dex announced, pulling me next to him in a way that was oddly familiar. And yes, Lan Hikari, you know who I'm talking about. (rolls eyes) "Lan and Arnie are coming."

We waited a few seconds before my Net Op, familiar and not so familiar, emerged from the vast pink silhouette of the slide, talking animatedly with a short kid with curly black hair.

"Arn. These are my friends Dex Ogreon and..." He paused suddenly, wondering what my name should be in this Real World of sorts. **(A/N: Jhvh! Here it comes!)**

"Jack Miller." The words were out of my mouth before I had time to think about them. Both Lan and Dex looked at me funny, but Arnie formally extended his hand with a "How do you do, Jack?"

"Very good, thanks," I replied, shaking Arnie's hand before he moved on to Dex.

"I was wondering, maybe you guys wanted to NetBattle?" Lan's voice was politely curious, but I saw a fiery gleam in his brown eyes that no one else could have (well, excluding Dex and any other crazy anime character there happens to be). I rolled my eyes. Luckily, neither Arnie nor Dex saw me, seeing as they were both gazing over at Lan.

"You know you want to." In a flash, Dex had whipped his PET off his neck, but only resulted in almost strangling himself, his face blue as he practically choked himself.

Lan and I burst out laughing as we tried to aid the struggling NetBattler. Arnie had his hand over his mouth, but I could tell he was laughing too. Dex made a face before sidestepping as he carefully undid the clasps that held his PET on the necklace cord. Grinning sheepishly, he got his PET ready for the battle as he guffawed with the rest of us.

I caught Lan's eye when the other two weren't looking. I looked at him furiously, pointing to myself, mouthing words that just told him not to even _think _about NetBattling, not with me in a state like this. I mean, the guy's a demon with a Navi. Would he even think about not sending me into battle? But if I knew my Operator, he wouldn't let me down. Hopefully.

Lan tried mouthing something back to me, something that looked like, "Later on," but we were interrupted by the sound of Arnie's voice. We both snapped back to Lan's cousin, who didn't seem to have noticed us mouthing 'secret' messages.

"Come on, guys. Let's go get a drink of water at Lan's house before we battle," Arnie suggested, one hand on Morgan's PET, shoved up his pocket as he gave us time to consider this.

I sighed with relief. Good old Arnie. He'd pitched in just in time, giving me and Lan some time to work out how we could battle - but hopefully not at all; when I was a Navi stuck in the Real World. (Actually, I would have preferred not to, but this is _Lan Hikari _we're talking about.)

As we walked towards the square blue and white house which reared up at the very edge of town, I turned to Lan. "So what are we gonna do?"

His eyes were lighting up again. "What do you think?"

My own eyes popped. "What, you're gonna try NetBattling with me like this?"

"Of course not, silly," he declared, pushing me forward a little as if telling me to face the music. "We're gonna do something even better."

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**So, what did you guys think? The reference to Prison Break was one of the actors on the show, Wentworth Miller. (But I don't watch it either, so I wouldn't know who he plays.) Anyway... I should update soon, so see ya!**


	10. Arnie and Hikaris

**Reviewer replies!**

**Jhvh777: The name? Nope, can't tell you yet. I'll give you another hint. Think Prison Break. 'Sall I'm sayin'. Oh, and thanks for reviewing through all this time!**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: OMG! You reviewed! (grins evilly and holds up two peace signs) And my Dex is actually IN character (I'm always happy when people say that!) But I didn't get the part about Mega Man being cute... I never wrote that, did I? (pulls up shocked face) Anyway, I'm glad you like it, and thanks for the review!**

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**Lan's POV**

"Hello, cousin Lan," Arnie said.

He extended his hand toward me. I stuck out my own and we shook hands for a few seconds, studying each other. It's been like five years since I last saw him.

"So how have things been in the Hikari household since we last met?" Arnie asked me formally, dropping down onto a stool at the far corner of the room while I sat at the desk in my room.

"Nothing much, really. I got a Navi. But look at this," I said, pointing to the screen of my computer.

Arnie came over to where I sat, his face green-blue in the glow emanating from the computer screen.

"What is it-oh, Lan, can I try this out?" he asked excitedly, his fingers flying rapid-fire on the wireless keyboard as his eyes took everything in.

"It's a Navi power-up," I said slyly, jumping up from the swivel chair in a flash and raising my eyebrows in an eerily annoying way. "It's brand new."

I could just imagine the excited puppy-dog look in Arnie's bright blue eyes as he excitedly tapped away, his curly black hair basked in the bluish-greeny light coming from the screen.

Arnie is a year younger than me, so he's eleven. He's really smart-but nowhere near as smart as my friend Yai Ayano-and a little too formal. But he's a decent guy at heart - and, anyway, as Mega Man would say, politeness is good in a person. Of course, Mega would probably add a sound of disapproval, accompanied by my usual groan of incomprehension.

"What about your Navi?" I asked as Arnie returned to the stool a few seconds later, saying, "It's excellent!", seeing as he had already downloaded the power-up onto his own PET. "What happened to him?" I had these fuzzy memories of a seven year-old Arnie, not much shorter than he was now, holding up a tiny blue PET with a strange humanoid Navi in it.

Arnie whipped out his terminal showed it to me in a flash; his Navi, whose name was Morgan, looking bright and alert onscreen. He was a tall plant-type guy, with a little tuft of leaves strung around the collar of his white tightsuit with the green streak running down the side, like Mega Man's. He seemed to me like a friendly, easygoing NetNavi.

"Getting stronger all the time," grinned Arnie. He was less formal now that we were a little better acquainted.

"Mine's resting." I gestured to my PET in its recharger, where I had remembered something Ms. Mari had once said and made a hologram of Mega Man, slightly shimmering and a little transparent, but otherwise decent, which had now appeared in the screen of my PET. He was basically a replica of the real thing; the only difference was that he was missing the Hikari family crest on his chest and his yellow shoulder protectors.

Hearing me mentioning him, the hologram blinked and woke up. "Hey," he greeted, before disappearing into sleep-state once more. Or so it would seem, as my real Navi was actually at Dex's house. In the Real World, that is.

"What have you been doing lately, Arnie?" I asked, dropping on all fours and crawling over to the computer power-board to turn it off.

"Nothing much." He shifted slightly. "NetBattling with my friends and stuff. I live in a apartment in Netopia."

I grinned, glad that he didn't live in a mansion. Once, when Dex and I had tried to break into Yai's mansion, we had ended up in major trouble In the end, we'd become friends and who knew? A rich - even if a little too young - genius came in handy in the quest of fighting Gospel, World 3, and everyone else.

"Me, I've been NetBattling, too, at the Coliseum and stuff," I announced, standing up again. Then I glanced at my watch. Six thirty. Supper time. Right on cue, my mom's voice rose up from the kitchen. "Dinner! Come on, Lan! Arnie!"

Arnie followed me down the stairway. I bounded down the last three steps and he paused hesitantly halfway down.

"Supper's getting cold!" my mom called from her vantage point in the kitchen. Arnie quit hesitating and climbed down after me.

"So how have you been, Aunt Haruka?" Arnie asked politely when all three of us were sitting down at the table and tucking into a steaming plate of roast turkey. Mph, Mom never makes this sort of stuff when it's just us two; usually, she only makes it when we have guests or my dad is at home for once.

Mom burst out laughing. "Please, Arnie, just call me Auntie. As for what's going on, nothing much really." She nudged me purposefully in the ribs, as if to tell me not to say anything about my "fighting evil." I rubbed my rib cage and looked back at her; I was about to say something before her foot on my shin stopped me.

Mom gave me this sort of "you know what I'm talking about look" before turning back to Arnie. "You like the food?"

Arnie swallowed his food politely before answering. "It was delicious, Auntie."

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**A/N: Arnie is Lan's third cousin from his mother's side. Actually, they're not related by blood; he lives with his mom, Jeannie Davis, in Netopia (His dad, Hugh, died in a car accident six months before he was born). He's only related to Lan because his grandmother in-law met Arnie's step-grandfather... Yeah, I know. Things are gettin' complicated here, aren't they? Well, at least you have some information about him now. **

**Fanfics!**

**(With this frenzied cry, Fanficcer disappears in a puff of er...green-violet smoke). **


	11. Rock on, Mega Buddy!

**Reviewer replies:**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Ergh, poor Morgan… Wait a minute, did you say I have to put in more detail in or that it was good that there was detail? Ah, whatever… Thanks for reviewing!**

**Jhvh777: Originally, Lan was supposed to raise his eyebrows and his mom was supposed to give him a look. But I changed it. (grins evilly) As for the name, it finally gets revealed in this chapter! Yay! Finally!**

**PS: Thanks for the review!**

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Mega Man's POV**

I followed Dex uncertainly the next morning into his basement. "Come on, MM!" he called over to where I had paused, hesitantly, halfway down the steps.

"What are you doing?" I called down, gripping the railing tighter as I climbed down the staircase.

The shadows dispersed as Dex came into view, and what he was doing made my jaw drop open in amazement, horror and shock. But mostly amazement.

Dex was standing in the middle of his basement, among all the clutter, but what had me really shocked was the fact that _a bass guitar was hanging from Dex's back._

No joke, seriously. A large purple bass was hanging from Dex's broad backside. It was so big that I could see it poking out from the sides of his rib cage and above his head, but I guess all that weight is useful for something. In one hand, he carried a small green amp, which he carelessly dropped down on the floor I watched.

"Dex - what are you _doing_?" I asked, my eyes so wide that I could almost feel the contact lenses popping off.

"Well, I figured if there's someone else in the house besides me, we might as well have some fun together, right?" Dex replied, thrusting a guitar in my direction. "Well, that's if you won't NetBattle." He shook a fist in my direction, and I rolled my eyes.

"I don't have a Navi, Dex, remember?" I asked as I held the guitar at arm's length, surveying it with a confused eye. "You want me to play with you?" I asked skeptically.

"Well yeah. Here, take a pick." Dex tossed me one at the same time as he reached down and flicked the on switch on the amp, but I could almost see the pleading in his eyes.

I gave him a look, but then-

All of a sudden, heavy metal rock flowed out through the amp's speakers, nearly bursting my eardrums. "Hold on, Dex. Stop." I clamped my hands onto my ears and glared as Lan's best friend looked up at me curiously.

"What?" he asked. "Should I lower the volume or something?"

"Yeah," I answered gratefully, nodding. "That's exactly it."

Dex shrugged and twiddled the volume knob a little bit so that when he pushed back the on switch again, the music had been reduced to something that at least didn't burst my eardrums. Geez, that would be horrible. A Navi couldn't do much good in the Real World if they were deaf. The good thing was, Dex seemed to have forgotten his previous anger, which was a good thing. Dex must be like, what, a hundred and twenty pounds, you know – imagining him going for me. I'm not elaborating.

Anyway, as soon as the music issue had been properly solved, I watched in total and complete amazement as Dex prepared to strum his own guitar, his body twisting and gyrating smoothly to the tunes of AC/DC. He was actually good, too! I mean, you wouldn't even expect a guy like that to like rock music, but he did it like a natural.

"Rock on, Mega buddy!" Dex called out as he now proceeded to do the grand finale, incredibly loud and well, awesome, all the while turned up to the light so that he looked like a pro. And…. Here it comes… (Beethoven music playing)… He was playing like a pro, too!

I suddenly remembered the guitar in my fist and swung it gingerly into my open palms. Well, who'd a thunk it? It actually felt good, and I wasn't even playing yet! For the first time in my life - the first time! - I was in the Real World, and on top of it all I was about to belt out rock tunes on a guitar that wasn't even my own, and I was actually enjoying it! Either I was crazy, or the world had flipped over, which wasn't a nearly as good alternative at the time.

We played until the album ended and prepared to play the next one; then Dex grabbed my wrist and yanked me down into a bow. When we surfaced, he waved his guitar above his head, lifting my own arm up like a referee in a boxing match. Then he struck one last chord, so loud that the sound resonated in the room for minutes afterward, before chucking his guitar across the room and into the case, where the top half slammed down shut over it, the clasps buckling themselves as if by magic.

Dex and I stuffed my guitar and the other ones lying around the room back in the cases, which was when the big guy swung back up onto his feet so he could face me. "Well, little buddy, how did you like your first time as a rock star?" he asked me, grinning so wide I could see all of his not-so-white teeth.

I couldn't help it. I grinned too. "I like it," I said, and that was that.

----------------------------------------------------

A little while later, when we'd put the amps away, I followed Dex self-consciously as he made his way over to the park where he was going to meet Lan and Arnie. It would be good to see my Operator again, I knew, but still a little freaky considering I was supposed to be in the Cyberworld and not in the Real World with him.

"But how'd you learn to play like that?" I wondered aloud as our feet crunched under the old willow tree at the entrance of the old park. The willow's leaves were always falling down, I recalled-but how?-and I remembered seeing it every time the gang had to go to good old Dentec park.

Dex shrugged, one hand on Guts Man's PET, which was hanging from his neck as always. "When I was a little kid, I played on the electric guitar they had there. I was so famous the salesman actually recognised me." He looked up and gave me the world's most gigantic grin. "My parents decided to get me a bass, and I've been playing ever since."

I paused in my tracks, wondering about it all - at least, that is, until Dex told me that the other two had appeared. I snapped out of my trance and followed him under the shade of the big squirrel slide.

"Here we are," Dex announced, pulling me next to him in a way that was oddly familiar. And yes, Lan Hikari, you know who I'm talking about. (rolls eyes) "Lan and Arnie are coming."

We waited a few seconds before my Net Op, familiar and not so familiar, emerged from the vast pink silhouette of the slide, talking animatedly with a short kid with curly black hair.

"Arn. These are my friends Dex Ogreon and..." He paused suddenly, wondering what my name should be in this Real World of sorts. **(A/N: Jhvh! Here it comes!)**

"Jack Miller." The words were out of my mouth before I had time to think about them. Both Lan and Dex looked at me funny, but Arnie formally extended his hand with a "How do you do, Jack?"

"Very good, thanks," I replied, shaking Arnie's hand before he moved on to Dex.

"I was wondering, maybe you guys wanted to NetBattle?" Lan's voice was politely curious, but I saw a fiery gleam in his brown eyes that no one else could have (well, excluding Dex and any other crazy anime character there happens to be). I rolled my eyes. Luckily, neither Arnie nor Dex saw me, seeing as they were both gazing over at Lan.

"You know you want to." In a flash, Dex had whipped his PET off his neck, but only resulted in almost strangling himself, his face blue as he practically choked himself.

Lan and I burst out laughing as we tried to aid the struggling NetBattler. Arnie had his hand over his mouth, but I could tell he was laughing too. Dex made a face before sidestepping as he carefully undid the clasps that held his PET on the necklace cord. Grinning sheepishly, he got his PET ready for the battle as he guffawed with the rest of us.

I caught Lan's eye when the other two weren't looking. I looked at him furiously, pointing to myself, mouthing words that just told him not to even _think _about NetBattling, not with me in a state like this. I mean, the guy's a demon with a Navi. Would he even think about not sending me into battle? But if I knew my Operator, he wouldn't let me down. Hopefully.

Lan tried mouthing something back to me, something that looked like, "Later on," but we were interrupted by the sound of Arnie's voice. We both snapped back to Lan's cousin, who didn't seem to have noticed us mouthing 'secret' messages.

"Come on, guys. Let's go get a drink of water at Lan's house before we battle," Arnie suggested, one hand on Morgan's PET, shoved up his pocket as he gave us time to consider this.

I sighed with relief. Good old Arnie. He'd pitched in just in time, giving me and Lan some time to work out how we could battle - but hopefully not at all; when I was a Navi stuck in the Real World. (Actually, I would have preferred not to, but this is _Lan Hikari _we're talking about.)

As we walked towards the square blue and white house which reared up at the very edge of town, I turned to Lan. "So what are we gonna do?"

His eyes were lighting up again. "What do you think?"

My own eyes popped. "What, you're gonna try NetBattling with me like this?"

"Of course not, silly," he declared, pushing me forward a little as if telling me to face the music. "We're gonna do something even better."

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**So, what did you guys think? The reference to Prison Break was one of the actors on the show, Wentworth Miller. (But I don't watch it either, so I wouldn't know who he plays.) Anyway... I should update soon, so see ya!**


	12. You're in Trouble, Lan Hikari

**Lan's POV**

I followed Dex and Arnie all the way back to my house, Mega Man behind me. He was biting his lip and looked as if he were making a decision that held stake over his life, but I passed my human-Navi a thumbs-up sign and slowed down slightly, allowing the others to be ahead so I could talk to Mega Man.

"Lan, I'm not sure I should believe you," said Mega Man before I could even speak. "No offense, but wherever you go, crazy adventures just seem to follow."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I shrugged and kept by him, neither of us talking. "Look, Lan," Mega said in an effort to get an answer out of me. "I don't mean to be mean or anything, but knowing you, you're probably gonna jack me in when their backs are turned."

You have to hand it to Mega. He knew what he was talking about. After fifty-something (crazy) adventures, you get to know what your Net Operator is really like. And he was right, too. I'd been planning get him into the Internet; how I would do it didn't matter. So, I didn't answer, but you'd better watch out, human Navi Mega Man.EXE. When Lan Hikari has an idea, you'd better watch out.

----------------------------------------------------

"Well, here we are," I sighed a few minutes later, the picture of dejected-ness as I put my hand on the doorknob, pushing the door open slightly so that it swung open on its hinges. Speaking of which, why have we never asked Yai to buy state-of-the-art alarm systems? I mean, she's rich, my best friend's best friend, and a fellow crimefighter.

"If you want to get a glass of water, Arnie, the bathroom's the third door on the right," I continued, turning around to face my cousin.

"Thanks, Lan," Arnie said gratefully, disappearing into the house and bounding up the stairs. Once Dex had ambled up after him, I turned to Mega.

He gave me an approving look.

Good. Phase one of Operation Humanized Navi accomplished. Once he believed I wouldn't try anything dangerous, it would be better for me to carry out my plan.

"Well, Lan, I hope you've learned a lesson here."

Oh, great. A lecture. From my own Navi to top it all off. And then there was me, thinking he was made with _kid_-type AI._ Well, I guess I should listen to what he's saying before we run smack-dab into another crazy adventure._

"What's the lesson?" I asked, wondering what my Navi could possibly up to because I realized a smile was flickering around his lips.

"Never try to get past me, because it won't work."

Just then, Arnie and Dex came back down the stairs, and I, as fate would have it, I pushed Mega Man farther into the hallway before bounding after the twosome. "Jack's in the bathroom right now, but he won't mind if we start NetBattling without him," I said, whipping out my sky-blue PET as we made our way over to the built-in plasma screen computer on my hallway wall. I found a catch on the side of the screen and threw it open to reveal for Navi jack-in slots.

The others jacked in. I sighed inwardly with relief that they didn't see Mega, who, as it was, was creeping up behind us.

Arnie turned around just in time, and I could from Mega's face that he hadn't been expecting that. "Should we start now?"

"Yeah, I'm getting kind of bored here. If Jack doesn't have a Navi, I want to fight Arnie's," Dex stated.

"Sure, why not?" I agreed, practically yawning as I carefully pulled the black extension cord from the side of my PET.

A single cry rent the air, thanks to yours truly.

"Jack in, Mega Man, power up!"


	13. I Have a Crazy Operator

**I daresay I don't need to say this anymore, but whatever... Here are the reviewer replies! **

**Terratasha: OMG, somebody new actually reviewed! Yay! Right - about the Mega Man-deletion thing, I never actually (blushie) realised it was that confusing. (sweatdrops) OK, so here's the explanation: See, Mega Man is a Navi in the Real World, right? So, when he gets back to the 'Net - presuming he does, somehow - and he gets deleted, who knows what could happen? He could become fully human, or so fully NetNavi that he could be separated from Lan... (Oh, and bonus, Lan's mom will find out about her son's Navi - actually, she'll figure it out. Heh heh heh). Yeah, something interesting will happen now, trust me... Right, glad you liked it, and thanks for reviewing:-)  
**

**Jhvh777: What does p.o.e mean? Anyway... Whaddaya mean, nothing's gonna happen? Of course something's going to happen. :-) You just have to keep reading... Anyway, thanks for the review!  
**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

**Mega Man's POV**

As soon as Lan's hand danced away and pressed the PET's plug into the jack-in slot, I felt my feet being wrenched away from the carpeted floor under me. I stuck out my hands to balance myself - I could feel myself going up, up, up through the air, as if I were a puppet and someone had pulled the strings.

_What in the world's happening_? It didn't make any sense - all this time I'd been trying _not_ to get into the Internet. If I did, who knew what could happen? There was always the chance something crazy would happen - I could even cease to exist altogether! _I know it's crazy, but still_... Just as soon as my head was about to touch the top of Lan's ceiling, I saw my feet disappear in a flash of blue light, like a gigantic laser beam. Before I knew what was happening, the rest of me had faded into the laser beam and I was vaulting, vaulting into another world.

Building tense or saying the obvious? In any case - for some weird insane reason or other, I was travelling via a long, thick, cerulean-blue beam of light to the Internet. Before, I had been nervous and a little scared of what could happen if I actually made my way back here - no thanks to Lan, of course - and now, here I was. _If I ever make it back to the Real World_... The thought kept popping in my head. If I ever did, what did that mean? _Am I a Navi, a human, or a mix of both?_

But my anxiousness evaporated as I fell through the air for what seemed like miles before finally landing, one hand stretched toward the ground, knees slightly bent, on the high-tech blue floor of the familiar Internet. I sighed with relief. I was back in the good old Cyberworld, despite the fact that my crazy (and possibly insane) Net Op was grinning in an uber-annoying way at me from his place in the Real World and that my life - as a human, as a Navi, and as a strange mix of both - could be in danger. Still - I had other troubles first. Lan Hikari. Turning around so that he could see my front from his place in the Real World, I scowled and rolled my eyes.

_I'm back where I belong... Maybe if we're lucky I could somehow be caught in a time/space continuum between both worlds, one that can let me live as a Navi and as a human, one that could change my life, and possibly every other Navi's out there_... As it turned out, though, my fate was already decided for me, as written in the chapters of this fanfic. Furthermore, Dex's Navi Guts Man and Arnie's Navi, Morgan, were jacked in right in front of me. Morgan made move to speak, but I held out a hand as I struggled to my feet.

Rubbing the crest on my chest, I got up on unsteady feet, shook my head to clear himself, and proposed a new battle tactic with a grin: "All right, guys, we'll play it two on one. You and Morgan versus me. Alone." It was odd, actually - now that all my traces of fear were gone, I felt elated, joyous, triumphant. Enough to have a battle two-on-one. That thought in mind, I smiled to myself, somewhat grudgingly. I suddenly knew why I was so happy - it was because everything would turn out for the better, and some small part of my subconscious knew it. Anyway -

Morgan looked surprised. "But that won't be fair."

"Yeah, but considering the number of times I've fought Guts Man and won, it shouldn't be too hard even if he's paired up with another Navi," I explained with a laugh.

It took Guts Man half a minute to figure out he'd been insulted.

"Hey!" he cried, taking a lunge for me, but I only laughed again and nimbly sidestepped sway from the big gray, yellow and red Navi..

Morgan was worried, though. "Mega Man, are you sure?" he asked, biting his lip. "I mean, we don't want to delete you or anything."

"Nah, it's _me_ you should be afraid of if anything," I joked. "After all, I have twice the IQ of Gutsy here."

He glowered at me, a look of pure hatred, but I only grinned in an uber-annoying way and held up my Buster hand. "Let's start, shall we, guts? Maybe, if we beat you this time, Roll will like me."

At that point, I actually wished Morgan was one of our fellow crimefighters. Had he been, Guts Man would have been on the receiving end of a slap by now. And had it been Arnie slapping Dex, Dex would have sweatdropped in traditional anime fashion.

Morgan and Guts took their places across from me, Guts still angry, Morgan looking nervous and slightly agitated. (Whether it was from that first battle with me or from the fact that we were unevenly matched, I'll never know.) As soon as the battle started, they both tried to get me, one with Guts Punches and the other with plant capsules, but I ducked cleverly and aimed a Mega Buster shot right at them.

Morgan cried out in pain and clutched where my shot had hit his arm, releasing his other hand from where it had been hanging limply by his waist. He powered up this arm, charging up his own Buster, which I supposed - judging by the size of it - had a big barrel-shaped shot, probably plant-related in some way or another.

I twisted artfully, all the while avoiding the Morgan's green and white vine shot and Guts Man, who had ditched strategies and BattleChips entirely and was standing a few feet away from me, fists out and ready. Suddenly. I felt something hard smack against my helmet, toppling me to the ground.. _Guts Man's punch_, I thought instinctively, rolling around to no avail as I felt the weight of his big fist crash against my noggin again.

Man, that hurt. Nevertheless, I got up straight and faced the other two. Guts Man's broad chest stopped rising and falling in his exhaust as he took time to glower at me. Morgan, meanwhile, rubbed his green-gloved hands together, kneading them, over and under, up and down, and the next thing I knew was that I was suspended by absolutely nothing in the air, though thin, creeping green vines had bound me so tight that I could barely move. I wriggled furiously, but to no avail.

Finally! Some aid! I felt the smooth roundness of a MiniBoomer BattleChip in my hand for a second, grinning in relief. My smile evaporate as it then proceeded to disappeared suddenly.

_Huh_? I thought wildly, struggling in my bonds. Why hadn't it worked?

_It must have to do something with the Real World-Internet connection_, I realised, just before a wave of emotion splashed over me. I didn't care anymore. I was a NetNavi, for cryin' out loud! And Mega Man.EXE would not succumb to the not-so-awesome power of Guts Man, senseless Navi, and Morgan, plant Navi.

I summoned up all the clamouring power in my Buster that I could, and let it all out in one fell swoop. The blast was enough to knock the vines away from my body, shrivelling them into a pile black ash.

"Great move, Mega Man, but are Buster shots all you can do, guts?" Guts Man asked sarcastically as I dropped lightly back down on both feet.

"The BattleChips aren't working," I told him, holding out my hand out and letting the Buster disappear as I took my breath. "Something's wrong."

"Let's try a trial run, Mega Man," came Arnie's voice from the Real World. "Lan, try giving him a chip."


	14. Tricks and Twists of Fate

**Reviewer replies!**

**Star Holder Commander: Yeah, like it's gonna be done posting any time soon. (smirks) Thanks for telling me that Chapter 12 is a duplicate; I changed it now.  
**

**Jhvh777: Yes... Will the BattleChips work, or will they not? Anyway... Lan, pissed off? Lan can get pissed off? Oh, yeah. Um... Well, whatever. Thanks for reviewing yet again!**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Yes... How did you know Chaud and Proto would piledrive Lan and Mega later? Coincidentally, he does appear a few times...**

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**Lan's POV**

I grinned guiltily before fishing around in the back pocket of my black shorts, where I kept my spare store of BattleChips. I shouldn't have done this, letting Mega Man go back into the Cyberworld. Oh, sure, he had woken up yesterday to find himself in the Real World, but now I'd messed it up and he may not even be NetNavi anymore. One thing was for sure, though - as soon as Arnie left, I had to go see Dad again.

That thought in mind, I pushed the chip down the slot on the side of my PET. "CyberSword, BattleChip in!"

In the Cyberworld, Mega Man waved his arm, waiting for the sword to appear, then turned back to me. "Nothing doing."

"Hm..." I thought about it for a moment, spiky hair shadowing my eyes, hand on my mouth, and, thinking back on it now, I think I must have bore an odd resemblance to Plato turned private eye. Yeah, I know. I'm insane.

By the time I turned back to the computer screen, Mega had somehow single-handed and chiplessly managed to use his Buster and artful moves to corner Guts Man and Morgan so that they were both cowering-well, almost cowering-against the wall. Morgan was shielding Guts' bulk with hands outstretched - poor Guts Man. He could defend himself but was to scared to awaken the wrath of my (former) Navi.

"Huh?"

Mega grinned and waved at me, then proceeded to do the other two in, then let them off: a glairng Guts Man and a grinning Morgan.

"You know, that was a pretty good joke," the plant Navi said, a little nervously.

Meanwhile, back in the Real World, Dex and Arnie looked at me curiously.

I blushed. "Um ... yeah ... well, you know, just battle or something, guys. I, um, have to go somewhere." With that, I yanked the PET cord out of the jack-in slot at the side of the screen and rolled away from them as fast as I could, into the hallway.

Mega Man was in the Real World again, glaring down at me. Go figure.

"Lan, what did you do!"

"Relax," I told him, holding my hands up to calm him down (_Nice try, Hikari_. _I have _got_ to quit trying to stop him. When my Navi wants to talk, my Navi wants to talk)._ Mega Man's the taller of us two, so he towered over me; I shielded my head with my hands, desperately craning my neck upward so that the rest of my body was basked in shadows. "You're all right now, aren't you?"

"Yes," he agreed, the glare in his green eyes, reflected from his cotanct lenses, eyes disappearing - to reppear a second later. "I'm warning you, Lan. You'd better listen to me," he warned, poking a finger into my chest.

I pushed his wrist from my chest before thrusting my hand forward. "Deal."

And so ends this scene, human and humanized Navi shaking hands, one glaring, the other terrified by his own Navi.

----------------------------------------------------

"See ya, Arnie!"

Mega and I were waving to Arnie, who waved back before ascending into the sleek silver taxi. His curly-headed face appeared in the window and we stood waving for a few minutes until the driver revved the engines and proceeded to ready the plane. The massive behemoth of an automobile rolled smoothly along its gold-hudcapped wheels, then took off through the strwwteays of DenTech City, the tip of its chrome-plated bumper sending sand skittering in our direction. Arnie and his mom were back on their way to Netopia.

Arnie turned around in his window seat so that we could see him better; we waved until at last the mammoth silver taxi disappeared into the powder-blue horizon.

When the car's large figure had disappeared from sight, I turned to Mega Man. "We have to go to Dad's now," I announced, just as his hand dropped down; my cousin Arnie was visible no longer.

"All right," he agreed, turning to me. I couldn't but notice that his sky-blue contact lenses were popping off and I motioned to him to push 'em back in.

"What? Oh. _These_ things," Mega Man said with a grin as he pushed them back in ever so slightly. You had to admit, he was in a much better mood than his previous one of yesterday afternoon. "What day is it today?"

"Sunday," I answered, nonchalantly glancing out toward the long, winding street that Arnie had taken away from the bustling metropolis of DenTech.

Mega Man seemed surprised.

"How can it be Sunday?" he quested to know. "I mean, two days ago, when I ... Well, you know, it was morning but you weren't getting ready for school."

"Oh, that," I began nervously, and I could just feel the sweat beading up from inside my blue cloth headband. "I was faking sick because I noticed the PET was missing. I had this weird impression that something had happened to you. I figured, for some insane reason or other, you were in the fields behind our house." I patted the pocket where my terminal was safely stored when I finished speaking.

Mega Man rolled his eyes sarcastically. "You know, Lan," he said, "As ingenious as that is"-hint, hint-"you still shouldn't have done it."

"I know, I know," I agreed, nodding rapidly; at the same time, I was gnashing my molars together. "I won't do it again."

As we made our way out of the airport I attempted to flag down a car to DenTech, but Mega grabbed my hand and pushed it down, hard. I winced from the sudden sharp, stabbing pain and sent a glare in his direction

"Don't." Mega Man restrained me, flecks of worry streaking his blue-reflected-green eyes. "Remember what happened last time?"

"Oh, yeah," I said sheepishly, remembering. The last time I'd hitchhiked in someone else's car, my BattleChips had been stolen and Mega and I had ended up not talking to each other for a while. (But everything had turned out all right, or else this fanfic might not even be here, you know? Um... so that's it, but I still sweatdrop at the thought.)

So I shrugged and led Mega Man away from the sidewalk and into the subway station. I made my way over to one of the men at the ticket booths. I was nervous, but tried to reassure myself: just two friends, right? Jack and Lan, black-haired and brown-haired, blue-eyed and green-eyed.

As I handed the black-haired man from the station my purple ticket, he suddenly exclaimed, "Hey! You were on the news a few days ago!"

"I ... Yeah, I was, and maybe I can get to Netopia free?" I stuttered before going into my cool guy mode. You know - hair flopped down easily over face in case of crazed fangirls, sneaky expression in eyes, one hand on PET - the works.

The man smirked as he handed me some change. "Sorry, but not even people on the news get get free subway rides."

I thanked him and we boarded into the subway, wondering why in the world I had been on the news a few days ago. "Mega-er, Jack," I asked suddenly, twisting around in my seat to face him, "Did you hear what that guy said?"

Mega paused. "Well, the last time we fought bad guys was on Wednesday, and today's Sunday," he figured, "so it's possible we were on the news. I mean, we were at the TV station, you know? So they probably got everything on tape. Your PET has a feature for the three o'clock news. We could watch it on that."

I pulled the PET out of my pocket and pressed down the news feature button. I skated easily through the days' scheduling until I came to Wednesday's date, where I pressed the play button.

"This afternoon, a notorious man under the name of Ace Lightstreak and his fearsome Navi Comet Man were spotted and brought down today at the DTV broadcasting headquarters - not by official NetBattlers, but by five children entering their teens," the blond reporter onscreen said, her blue eyes flickering open and shut as she gave the newscast. "The five have been fighting criminal Navis and their Operators for over a year now, helping ward the evils of DenTech away from the city." The report went on to describe a little each of us and which Navis we'd been fighting, etc. When it was over, I looked up at Mega Man with wide eyes.


	15. To SciLabs we Go

**Ah, reviewer replies... yet again.**

**Star Holder Commander: Ah, yes... What now? You'll have to read and see.  
**

**Rose Kistune.EXE: You know, Rose, I actually never thought about that. Probably because it was Takeo and Beast Man originally, but still - it's an awesome thought. I'll have to incorporate it somehwere. As for Proto, well - he and Chaud appear (Bad Enzan! Bad! Remember, it's pre-Axess, so he's like Lan's rival. Sadly.) - and every Navi... No. Can't tell you that. Sorry. :-)  
**

**Jhvh777: Yay, you're now my oldest beta! Yay! Yeah, it was them fighting. I made a mistake, though - you said Mega was going to get pissed off, but I put Lan's name in the last reviewer reply. :-)**

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**Mega Man's POV**

"They know," Lan whispered, shocked, his brown eyes glazed over, but still looking into my green ones. His hand involuntarily clenched his PET. "How could they?"

"Lan! Lan Hikari!" I said impatiently, shaking my Net Op's shoulder. He looked up at me, but he still looked shocked. "Look, Lan," I told him, trying to be reasonable, "A) We won second place in the Grand Prix, and B) How could five unofficial NetBattlers go all around the country fighting crime without anyone knowing?"

"Yeah, but still..." He leaned back in the train seat and closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead. "I mean, they know so much about us..."

"Look at it this way," I went on, rolling my eyes, "What do they know, exactly? They know your names, of course, and they know about your lives, but it's not like we're going to get caught by the police or anything, is it?"

Lan nodded glumly. Seeing that it was a lost cause, I sighed and looked out the window. Since had boarded a small city bus, we were above ground. We were passing the outskirts of DenTech City now; instead of the usual bustling city background that we were used to, there were now a few ranches dotted her and there, and from my vantage point I could even see some of their horses and cows grazing peacefully as we passed them on the way to SciLabs.

Soon the Government Complex came into sight. It was a metropolis, bigger than DenTech, and it reflected silver and bright white in the eleven o'clock sunlight. I caught the bus's reflection in the mirror, and grinned in spite of myself. The vehicle was going faster now, even faster than a Ratty virus after cyber-cheese, and I couldn't help but roll down the window and put my head out, even if the only scenery was like a sheet of infinite steel and platic.

"Woo!" I cried out suddenly, closing my eyes and letting the momentum whip my spiky black hair in the wind. Across from me, Lan groaned.

----------------------------------------------------

As we got out from the metro about half an hour later, I held my stomach and moaned. "My stomach hurts so much."

Lan groaned loudly again. "That's because you were actually sticking your head out the window in a valiant effort to experience a bus ride for the first and last time," he replied sarcastically.

"Weren't you excited the first time you went on the bus, way back when you were a little kid?" I asked as we made our way over to SciLabs again, me shaking my hair back from the pain like a wet dog.

"No, why would I be?" Lan replied. "It's just a bus through the countryside."

"If you ask me, you humans take stuff for granted," I informed him. "You ought to enjoy life more."

"Well, you'd better get used to, 'cause you're one now," Lan answered with an evil grin.

Anyway, we soon made our way over to SciLabs. Same thing would have happened as before, I supposed, except for the fact that Lan got this incredibly crazy gleam in his wide brown eyes and somehow had the urge to grab me by the wrist and pound up the stairway, forsaking the elevator entirely. And, if you happen to personally know Lan Hikari (Well, I _am_ his Navi, buds), you'll know that that is a rare event indeed.

Lan quickly glanced at either sides of the hallway before yanking me along with him to the room where his father worked. He quickly typed the code in, turned around and winked at me, and we were in.

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**A/N: In the game, you can get to SciLabs via the subway, but this fic you can do it either way.**


	16. Mission Not Accomplished

**OK, reviewer replies...**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Yes... Now let's hope he doesn't send Mega Man back to the Internet. (laughs evilly) Oh, and Rose, there was this story I found some while back where the Navis get into the Real World - and you reviewed it! How 'bout that, eh?  
**

**Jhvh777: I'm giving you a surprise for when you come back. XD Oh, yeah, and about the bus... See, what happened was Mega and Lan were originally in the subway, and I had a "sunroof mirror" to see aboveground. But that didn't work, so I had to put a bus instead.**

**Star Holder Commander: Mostly all the chapters are pretty short, Commander... I'll have to stop doing that in the future.**

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**Lan's POV**

The door slid open silently, a sheet of metal set in its place. _Yai loves this place_, I thought with an evil grin. Sure, she'd been there for around most of our adventures, but even then ... Yes, and I am aware she's smarter than me.

---------------------------------------------------

Thecrazyfanficcer: Wow, now that's irrelevant.

Mega Man: (rolling eyes) That's because he's weird, insane, crazy. Did I mention insane?

Lan: Am not!

Pikasqueaks: He's also childish...

Lan: Speak for yourself. At least _I_ don't get chased by InuYasha for calling him a cat demon.

Pikasqueaks: You do other stuff, and you still get your own anime. (groans again)

Lan: (grinning sweetly) I know, ain't it great?

Thecrazyfanficcer: Pika, I have a fanfic to write, you know!

Pikasqueaks: Speaking of which, it's time... TO DIVEBOMB YOU!

Lan and Mega Man: Um... OO;

---------------------------------------------------- 

Motioning to Mega Man to follow me, I stealthily crept into the room where my dad works. He followed up from behind me, tentatively, hesitantly. We made our way in; I showed ourselves to Dad, who was waiting for us behind his steel desk, PET in hand and computer at the ready.

"Lan, Mega Man," Dad said excitedly, turning around to nod at us before going back to his computer. His fingers literally flew on his keyboard, a flesh-coloured blur. "I've been doing some tests on a spare NetNavi, Marcus, and I've discovered something that could revolutionise Navi technology forever." He adjusted his glasses slightly before gesturing to us, his cheeks flushed.

Mega and I came forward slowly. We looked at the screen of Dad's laptop. There were two wide black boxes on it. They were marked _Human DNA_ and _Navi Data. _The boxes showed some DNA and data. Before we could really look, though, Dad pressed a few keys on the keyboard, and a third square appeared below the other two. This one was entitled _Mega Man's DNA. _Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my Navi blush suddenly.

Dad pulled open a drawer of his steel desk. He pulled out his own sky-blue PET, emblazoned with the Hikari family crest before balancing Marcus's PET against his laptop and slamming the drawer shut. Marcus was a nice enough looking Navi, a little on the chubby side, with a smiling face, freckles, and glasses (Navis can have glasses? Since when?).

"See, the thing is," Dad continued, pointing to the box with the human DNA, "This is human DNA, and this is Navi data. But the DNA I took from Mega is different. A scientist, a friend of mine, invented a device that enables people to take the DNA from humans. I took some from Mega - remember? - and put it in a petri dish."

"What happened, Dad?" I asked. It was actually pretty weird to see my normally calm, cool and collected father this excited-he _had_ invented the Navi, after all.

"Well, this is what I got," Dad replied, causing yet another black box to appear onscreen. This one was entitled simply _Humanized Navi_). The DNA strand looked like the Navi data, but it looked odd. As if the data and DNA had been combined together, but also as if had some sort of other element that the other two lacked.

"It's different." Mega spoke up suddenly, lifting his head up slightly. "Like my DNA has something that neither the human DNA or the Navi data doesn't. And it looks like the other two have been combined."

"Exactly," Dad replied, still a little flustered, but nodding excitedly. "That's exactly it. It's really different. It's a mix of human DNA, Navi data, and something else - something to do with the Internet and Real World transition, and the fact that Mega Man was never completely Navi."

"And how is this supposed to revolutionise Navi technology forever, Dad?" I asked. "It's just DNA."

"Maybe the answer lies in the DNA," Dad answered, nodding wisely. "Maybe with humanized Navi DNA, we can invent some way to combine the worlds of humans and Navis into one."

Mega was about to say something then, but I cut him off, grabbing his arm. "Look!" I cried suddenly, jerking my head to the clear glass window that showed the grounds below. "See who it is?"

Mega was surprised; then, I saw an expression of hate fill his contact-lensed eyes. "Chaud," he muttered under his breath. Poor Dad looked politely quizzical; he didn't know what was going on.

And in one, sudden, sweeping movement that lasted five seconds in my eyes, I took Mega's arm and zoomed out the door.


	17. The Blaze Knows All

**Poor Rose... I feel sorry for you. Chaud is nigh-demented in this one, but there's a reason. A secret that shall be uncovered near the end of the fic... Wen I write my Rockman.exe fanfic I'm gonna make the timeline _after_ Axess. Anyway, on with the fic!**

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**Mega Man's POV  
**

"Beat it, Blaze."

Chaud Blaze stood in front of me, his midnight-blue eyes flickering evilly through his sheet of pale hair, his expression triumphant.

"No," he said, leaning forward so that his dark eyes shone through the gaps from his dyed-white bangs (and you're telling me girls think he's hot? Not when he looks demented like that, he isn't). "I know who you are, Mega Man. Or should I say, Jack Miller."

I felt Lan recoil from behind me. For a guy who's had so many adventures before, as soon as I step into the scene, he's using me as a safeguard or a shield or something. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," I stammered as bravely as I could, though, of course, I did.

"You know what I'm talking about, little _Jackie_," Chaud retorted, leering, his every word careful and deliberate. He leaned back suddenly, as if to let me take in the sight of him; Chaud Blaze, supposedly cool teenager (in reality a dolt, of course), with his red jacket and army pants. As for the white hair-well, if you asked me, it looked ridiculous. The guy was one of the youngest Official NetBattlers out there. Even when the NetPolice were starting to get concerned about us and why we kept fighting evil, I had the distinct impression that Lan and his crowd (aka: the ten of us) could fight crime just as easily as Chaud could - even if he was more successful.

"I've seen you, Mega Man, I've seen you. I've watched as you woke up that fateful morning to find the sunlight streaming into your face, watched in quiet brooding as you discovered the joys of living in the Real World, of becoming human." He looked at me, seemingly more evil than before. "And now it's time for my revenge."

_Oh, no, _I thought, freaking out, _What kind of revenge?_

He held up his PET.


	18. NetBattle

**Jhvh777: Aw, that was so kind of you! Reviewing (Twice? Why? I posted the chapters at the same time!) even when you were on vacation in Tennessee. (Please don't forget your suntan lotion next time. :D) About Chaud... No, can't say. It's confidential. ;-) Mm, you could have an idea there, though. He's not a stalker, but who knows what'll happen next? Not you guys, I'll bet. (grins evilly and sniggers)  
**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: And I thought you would be angry at the demented Chaud thing. XD Good thing you weren't. You know, you and Jhvh leave such _great_ ideas for this fanfic in your reviews. Someday, Rose. Someday - when I'm done posting this fic. _That_'s when you guys will find out what happens next. ;-)  
**

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**Lan's POV**

NetBattle.

Go figure.

That was my first thought as I watched Chaud raise his PET and plunge Proto Man's cord into a jack-in slot from a nearby traffic light. Automatically, I reflected the gesture back to him, feeling Mega Man disappearing from the Real World as I jacked him in. I felt an odd sensation as the jack-in cord left my hand and danced, almost playfully, into the slot. Even as I clicked it in, it was like something was leaving me. Like a part of me was going. I shook my head to clear himself. Mega Man may be a humanized Navi, but we were two different people - no matter how much we were related to each other (in more ways than one).

In the Internet battle arena, Mega Man and Proto Man stood in front of each other, arms crossed, glaring at each other before beginning the fight. I could just imagine Proto Man's eyes shining from behind the shades perched delicately on his nose, reflecting Chaud's own expression. Indeed, the white-haired Net Op did look vindictively evil with his dark, almost midnight-blue eyes shining through the gaps in his bleached hair.

The battle started.

Proto Man's right hand ignited in a way-too-familiar battle blade; the sword that was permanently fused into his arm was strengthening for the NetBattle ahead. A shocking thought struck me full force:_ What if we got rid of it?_ Not only would that make everyone's life much easier, it would also give Mega Man the winning edge for this battle.

Suddenly, cutting through my thoughts, Proto Man's sword flashed hot-white among Mega Man's chest as he swiped my Navi down to the floor, smiling evilly in the shadow cast by his red helmet. Now all we needed was the evil laughter. I felt anger bubbling deep within me, but close to the surface. Reining it in, I decided it was payback time.

I quickly flashed a chip through the slot of my PET for starters. Nothing much, but Mega Man knew what to do with it. He rolled over, exposing a small grin, then jumped back up, MiniBoomer in hand.

Mega seemed to hesitate for a moment, fake sidestepping Proto Man before tossed the small blue bomb not at the Navi standing in front of him, but behind him. Proto whirled around; I took that chance to slide another chip through the slot of my PET. A CyberSword.

Now they were even. The two sword blades whirled in an everlasting cadence of battle, clash upon clash of white and palish yellow. The blades spun and smacked each other again as the two Navis aimed and parried in battle. Their story sang from between the blades and into the night.

I quickly tightened my fist around one single BattleChip: a WideSword. I was waiting for the right moment, waiting so Mega could strike, waiting as the two swords swirled, two pale flashes, one against the other. The dance of the blades, not for this age and time, but for all eternity. The battle was on.

Until, that is, Proto Man's sword struck Mega Man right in the chest.


	19. Every Ending is a New Beginning

**Here we go again with the reviewer replies.**

**Mak: Um... I don't really like Chaud that much... He's a good guy, but there's a reason why he's acting like this... I sense that you guys may change the fate of this story with all your reviews. ;)**

**Fiinikkusu Akumu: Bass might appear in this fic - it depends on what everyone else thinks. Now that's one person vouching for him... What about the others:D**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Chaud's not evil in this one - just seemingly that way (or otherwise demented). Right, and Mega's fate... Who knows? Can't tell ya yet. XD  
**

**Jhvh777: Is it just me or do four people want me to update? 'Cause I can't reveal confidential info just yet. (winks mysteriously) Now, about that surprise... Nah, just check your stats. :-)**

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**Mega Man's POV **

I saw Proto's leering glare, the victorious gleam in his eyes as his sword pressed itself down into my chest... I didn't care anymore - I had other, better things to think about on my dying day...

For me it ended in a flash of memories, a stream of neverending pictures that flashed before my very eyes as I felt, as if from far away, Proto Man's sword push its sharp tip through my body. I felt myself falling as the long, lethal blade of doom knocked me to the ground, pressing through my crest and driving straight through, into my chest. My eyes were fading; white clouds misted my vision from all sides, hazy and vague as I fell, falling, ever falling. A throb of nigh-unbearable pain opened up in my forehead, pounding and pressing in on me in my weakened state. It was like a headache but so much worse - as if Zeus Hammers were pushing my head open and lava was coursing through my arteries.

As I fell, I could feel myself flowing away, my blue-clad body breaking up into a million little bytes of data which flew away in the eternal current of wind, as flighty and aimless as sand in a desert storm. A_fter this,_ I thought, _it'll all be gone forever._

But it wasn't my last thought. Even as I could feel myself getting deleted, dying, Proto Man gave an evil, victorious grin and, with a white flash, had pressed his foot upon my helmet and drew his sword, touching it to my throat. At this point, only my upper body remained; I could feel it floating away as the red Navi celebrated his triumph.

"Bye, bye, Mega Man," he said with another tight, evil smile, and turned away from me then, his figure dark against the normally dull background of the battle stadium.

I closed my green eyes. "Good will always win, Proto Man," I told him, my famous last, dying words.

And then I disappeared.


	20. The Daze of School Days

**Lan's POV**

A few seconds before the last bytes that made up my older brother and Net Navi disappeared into oblivion, I jacked Mega Man out with an evil grin to Chaud. (Fanficcer pauses its narration thoughtfully to watch the shock and happiness spread over the readers' faces.) **  
**

"Genius!" I cried triumphantly, flashing out my PET cord in a single movement. "You, Chaud Blaze, local terror of DenTech City, thought you had actually beat me! But nobody beats the great Lan Hikari!" I crowed victoriously.

Chaud stared at me through his curtain of white-dyed hair, his dark eyes pulsing through his bangs. For a short while we stared at each other, -brown boring into the midnight-blue. "I still won the NetBattle. It isn't over yet, Lan." Chaud jerked his own cord from the traffic light and stalked off, his red vest fading until it disappeared into the sudden darkness.

As soon as the evil one had gone, I tossed my PET from one hand to the other, waiting impatiently for my Navi.. I knew Mega Man wasn't gone forever; I'd saved him from deletion at the eleventh hour.

He appeared next to me a few seconds later, his arms crossed, eyes shining green through the contacts, and the all-too-familiar Mega Man-ish expression on his face. He looked a little shaky and nervous - but this was Mega, after all. Despite everything, he was in his game (of sarcasm). "Just because you saved me from being deleted doesn't mean that you have total and complete power over me, you know."

I cocked my head to the side, being deliberately cheeky. My brown hair flopped and must have given me an uber-annoying look. But as for actual words, I said nothing, only grinned evilly.

Rolling his eyes with disgust and supreme, incredible annoyance, Mega Man turned away and thought hard, his hand under his chin. "Chaud knew," he began, frowning as he puzzled the problem, "so that must mean he was spying on us. I can't think of anyone else who would have known about my transition and e-mailed him about it."

"Well, maybe we should try hiding you. You know, with a firewall," I declared, moving my hands (TCF: pathetically!) to illustrate my point as I went up on my toes.

Mega rolled his eyes again, but he was grinning. "You know, Lan, for one thing it's called a shield, not a firewall. It doesn't even work in the Real World."

"Oh." I dropped back down to my regular height, but the combined weight of my orange roller skates overbalanced and I toppled onto the sidewalk, my head painfully whacking the pavement. Mega Man burst out laughing.

Ever get the feeling that your best friend is only fair-weather?

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"Okay, so what do we do next?" I asked. It was the next day, and I was getting ready for school. I had a walkie-talkie clipped onto my headband and was using it to converse with Mega Man. I was sprinting back and forth from one end of the room to the other - supposedly this was called "getting ready for school."

Mega was pacing impatiently outside my house; the night before, I had sent him off to sleep with Dex again and the new day had begun, glorious and triumphant, with my clock radio going off at approximately 6: 32 in the morning. That had been almost an hour earlier than usual. The reason (and here I quote the humanized NetNavi Mega Man.EXE, also known as Jack Miller): "7:30 is just too late to go to school."

"Listen, Lan. Dex is lending me some old clothes of his that I can use to disguise myself. I'll go to school with you," Mega told me now from his postion on my driveway.

"What? You actually _want_ to go to school?"

"Hey," Mega Man replied, easygoing, and I could just imagine him shrugging dismissively as he did. "I always wondered what humans do when they go to school every morning."

I stood dumbfounded, my mouth open, my eyes wide.


	21. The Thing About School

**I didn't do the reviewer replies last chapter…ahem.**

**Terratasha: OK, let me start from the beginning. I can't really make the chapters much longer; there's only one POV per chappie, as you've probably noticed. Furthermore, there's a reason why Chaud's acting like this – for the moment, it's confidential. **

**Now, about the Mega Man and Lan being brothers. Mega used to be a human but he's a Navi now, so it makes sense that he's not completely human or Navi (Especially after this crazy adventure). Technically, he and Lan were twins, so one has to be a bit older. (I read that it's Mega Man; so, in my fics, he's about three minutes older than Lan.) About the brotherly relationship… Well…um… That's just plain not-plotting-properly-ness. I'll have to strengthen the bond between the two of them in future fanfics.**

**As for the contact lenses, the ones who should know – Maylu, Dex, Tory, Yai, Yuuichiro, Haruka, Chaud, Proto Man, Bass and Wily – either already know or will eventually. The people who don't know them, however, won't figure out their identities if they don't look too closely. (It's Battle Network 3. They're not that famous…yet.) As for the last request, it gets revealed in this chapter. ;) **

**(PS: This isn't my last Mega Man fanfic… Should you read and review any others that I'll write, please don't stuff everything into one paragraph. It makes things easier to read.)**

**Fiinikusu Akumu: Going to school is the kind of thing Mega would do, don't you think? (giggles) Also, thanks for the info about BN5. Chaud's not being brainwashed, though – it's something even weirder. (Bizarre, huh?) Bass SHALL appear, owing to the fact that everyone seems to like him so much. Sweet dreams to you, too! XD **

**Star Holder Commander: I'm glad you like my fic, but… You shouldn't criticise a story like before – you have to balance the good with the bad. :D  
**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: OF COURSE Mega Man's not deleted! He still has fans, doesn't he? If not, this fanfic would be about Chaud! (begins dancing crazily for no apparent reason) XD**

**Jhvh777: Upon beginning the latest installment of Getting Back (creative chapter, by the way!) I noticed you had answered to the reply I had sent you. That said – give Roll a Moogle! MUAHAHA! (laughs evilly) 'Scuse me for that bout of craziness. What I meant was if you're stories' plots get changed because of us reviewers, remember this one's will, too! Because now I'll have to put Roll in here somewhere…. **

**Plus, about your OC's problem, I suggest for you to write a list of 'em down somewhere –you'll get more organised with your fanfics. (slow, pleased smile)**

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**Mega Man's POV**

Lan charged out of the house looking positively amazed. The walkie-talkies were old models and I hadn't seen his reaction through when I'd told him about the school thing (Newer walkie-talkies have built-in screens), but I could very well guess it. I wanted to pass as a twelve-year old human, and that also meant going to school, and Lan was-well-stupefied.

Lan-being who he was-was darned amazed that I actually wanted to go to a building every morning to sit with other kids my own age and learn something for a change. To him, it would be absolutely useless for him later on. I, on the other hand, was pretty sure that they didn't let you be an Official NetBattler if you couldn't do seventh-grade math and English. (sniggers).

Anyway, as soon as Lan had waved to his mom and hopped down the steps to join me, I miraculously appeared from the shadows and walked doggedly on beside him. Lan still looked totally surprised; when he noticed me, he raised his eyebrows in a superiorly annoying, superiorly sarcastic way.

But the only sentence that came out of his mouth was: "You, little Navi, are one weird dude."

"Hey, I'm not little," I returned, patting his head in a babyish way. "You're the one who's like three centimetres shorter than me."

Lan opened his mouth to reply, but just then we were passing his friend Maylu's house. He could see her coming out the front door, so he gestured for me to pull my sweatshirt hood up as he waited for her.

I stepped back into the cool shade of an oak tree beside the street (Oak trees? In DenTech City? Since when? I sure wish Lan had shown me all this stuff from before.)

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Lan: Mega, you dork, I did not on purpose not show you that oak tree.

Mega Man: (raises eyebrow)

Thecrazyfanficcer: For once he's actually right. I just stuck it in there when I wrote the fic.

Lan: Why?

Thecrazyfanficcer: What do you mean why? It was just so Mega Man and Lan could have some shade.

Mega Man: (grins evilly) See, I'm famous.

Lan: So not fair. My Navi is more famous than me.

Mega Man: Which would make sense, considering I'm also smarter than you.

Well, on with the more-sarcastic-than-crazy fanfic ...

Mega Man: Hey! I'm not sarcastic!

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Lan hesitated slightly as Maylu came forward. She's really a cute-looking girl - I could see why Lan likes her - about medium height, a little shorter than my Net Op, with short red-violet hair that fell almost to her shoulders. She was wearing her traditional outfit-red skirt, knee-high socks, blue vest-the one that I'd always seen her wearing from my glances into the Real World. One hand was one her PET, which held her NetNavi, Roll. "Maylu, this is my friend... uh, Jack." Lan had already forgotten what my "name" was.

Mayl however, ignored Lan and moved toward me, her brown eyes shining. "It's Mega Man, right?"

"How did you know?"

Maylu's brown eyes were glowing again. She grinned mysteriously. "I have my ways," she replied.

Lan was watching this exchange with his eyes wide and his hair up. Well, more up then it would have normally been, anyway. "How did you know that?" he demanded his friend/crush. (TCF: Hey! Being the romance fanficcer that I am, I _had_ to mention that somewhere.)

"Like I told your humanized Navi, Lan Hikari, I'm not telling," Maylu answered with a very uncharacteristic smirk.

Lan muttered something unintelligible in reply, then turned around and began the trek over to Dex's house. Maylu fell behind so that she was shoulder to shoulder with me, one hand still on her PET.

"So, how did you know?" I asked Maylu as we made our way through the smaller part of DenTech. Maylu only shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"It was too obvious," she explained. "I noticed Lan hadn't been talking to us since Saturday. And his mom told me."

I grinned. "His mom knows?"

Mayl grinned and cocked her head to the side. "Why, Mega, if you were a human you should know that mothers are smarter than you think."

I grinned and poked her in the ribs. "I am human. Besides, call me Jack Miller. That's my new name."

She patted me on the head jokingly. "OK, Jack. Now you stay like a good boy. I'm talking to your Operator - or should I say owner? - now." With that, she strolled on ahead and went to talk to Lan. I heard them talking for a bit, then I saw my Operator cheer up and blush considerably, making his cheeks look like Macintoshes in the sunlight..

Soon we picked up Dex at his house, which he was just exiting, PET in hand. Yai, as usual, would be going by limo. Sure enough, a long, fuchsia-coloured limousine slid by us at that very moment, sending dust clouds in its wake.

"She's lucky," Dex said reverently as the silver streak passed us. "She's rich _and_ she's a genius."

Then his attention snapped off the sleek car pulled smoothly away from us. He turned toward me, and I could tell he was hesitating. "Uh-"

"It's okay, Dex," I assured him. "She already knows."

Maylu grinned in a most unMaylu-ish way. "Yai isn't the only genius around here," was her answer.

So the four of us made our way over to the school, which, now that you mention it, was only a few blocks away from Lan's house. Just as we were about to cross the street, Lan leaned towards the others. "From here on in, you're Jack Miller," he muttered, his spiky hair flicking in the wind. "Guys, from this point on, Mega Man.EXE exists no longer. Or if he does, he's not standing behind us right now."

"Very funny, Lan," I teased with a slight grin, pushing a gap between the others and succeeding in pushing my shorter former Operator to the side. "You don't need to tell them."

"Got that right," Dex added suddenly, doubling over with laughter. "Man, this is funny. For once in my life I'm actually smarter than Lan."

Then Maylu said something and the colour rose up into Dex's cheeks. I'm not telling you what, but he _was_ stuttering in that Dex-y way of his all the way across the street.

The DenTech City Academy was a normal sized affair on the other side of the ACDC district rectangular in shape. Kids were swarming all over the green lawn; the bell hadn't rung yet. I shifted the backpack Lan had supplied me with slightly as the school cropped up into sight.

Amazingly enough, no one noticed us. I bit my lip at that point, thinking about it. _OK, so why would they notice the others?_ I reasoned. It seemed logical. They were regular students, after all. I was overreacting, I supposed. I couldn't really say much for myself, though; when everyone noticed I was the new kid, I sure hoped they didn't notice my uncanny resemblance to Mega Man EXE, NetBattler Navi extraordinaire.

Before my thought stopped, however, the other three decided to stand under the shade of yet another oak tree and talk. Being who I was, I declined the offer, preferring to walk away and observe just what it was before the children of DenTech City did on weekday mornings before the morning bell rang.

I braced myself as I walked through the throngs of preteen-and-under youths gathering in crowds in front of the school; I had the none-too-distinct feeling that some one would notice me and my reign in the Real World would be over. For the second time, I shook my head at the fact that no one recognized me-we _had_ been on TV, after all-and was absolutely amazed that no one even seemed to notice I was a new kid.

I chewed my lip again, suddenly veering to the right; I had seen one kid, standing alone by himself in a corner. He was leaning up against the wall, looking both lonely and worried at the same time. He was a bit younger than Lan-around eleven maybe- with thick, curly russet-red hair and a cute, almost cherubic face. He was a little chubby, and from what I could tell, there was no personal terminal shoved up his jeans pocket.

"Hey."

The kid spun around, his hazel eyes wide in surprise. He quickly recovered, his freckles glowing as he smiled in spite of himself. "Hi. Who are you? I've never seen you around before."

"Jack. Jack Miller, to be exact. I'm a new kid," I replied easily; I was already into my new position as supposedly normal under-eighteen human resident of DenTech City.

"Well, I'm Chris Richardson," the kid replied, grinning as he shook my hand, just as Arnie had a few days ago. He wasn't like Arnie, I could tell. For one thing, Lan's cousin would never just say outright "Who are you?" And, I knew, Arnie would not have smiled so easily at the sight of a "new friend."

"Why are you alone, Chris?" I asked innocently, sincerely hoping that it was just a coincidence and not what I thought it was.

"Well, you see, I have no friends. Kids make fun of me because I'm chubby," Chris replied, almost apologetically, sighing as he did so. "And I don't have a PET, so they think I'm not cool."

I found myself reaching out and patting his shoulder. "I don't have one either, Chris, but it doesn't mean I'm not cool, does it? It matters what's in your heart, not what's in your pocket." The part about not having a PET came to me so naturally, so easily, that I wondered how I had done it. But then again, I realised, I was(OK, had been) a Navi, so how could I actually have one?

Chris grinned excitedly. "That has got to be one of the nicest things anybody not related has ever done for me, Jack, and I've only just met you," he thanked me shyly. That was such a nice thing to say I grinned back; without thinking, without reasoning, I knew I had made a new friend. _But hey, _I figured, _why not? _


	22. A Green Eyed Glare

**Mm, I'm glad you two liked this chubby OC. I think the red hair was probably unconsciously inspired by Chris from Sonic. Odd, huh?**

**Rose Kistune.EXE: He is cute! (winks playfully) About the beer thing, though… An unusual observation, to say the least. Not the sort of thing I'd note myself. :D**

**Jhvh777: Everyone likes Chris, it seems. And while you're happy about that, I'm happy about the soon-to-appear Moogle. Everyone scream for fanfics! XD**

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**Mega Man's POV**

I could see what Chris meant about the kids who made fun of him as soon as we crowded the entrance of the school. Lan caught my eye and mouthed something; I shook my head firmly back and gave him a little push to indicate that I knew what I was doing and it was fine.

Suddenly, the bullies appeared. Silent and flitting as shadows, their figures materialised into view after a period of eight point five seconds. They were a ragged bunch, comprising-to be precise here-of four roughhousing roughnecks: one blondie, one black-haired, one redhead, one brunette. _Such a colourful assortment,_ I thought with distaste as they immediately shoved Chris to the side and prised a thick golden-coloured chain from his pocket, grinning evilly all the while. They cackled as nastily around him as a flock of witches' black crows around a bone-filled graveyard.

"Hey, Richardson! You finally found a friend? What is he, some sort of nut who thinks that golden necklaces are cool?" the blond-haired boy, who appeared to be the leader, taunted Chris. "Or are you hanging out with someone who's actually dumber than you for once?"

Behind him, the other three laughed. The one with the red hair, a tall guy of about thirteen years, laughed cruelly at the cowering Chris. "Wow, he'd have to be pretty thick to be hanging out with _you_!"

One of the remaining two cohorts, an African-American boy with short curly hair, smiled in such a way that his braces glinted in the half-light. "Are you just gonna hide, Chris, you crybaby? Or are you going to face us like a man?"

Chris whimpered and took a step back. The last bully, an incredibly short ten year-old with oaken hair-he was about four feet high-took a step and stumbled purposefully forward, shoving Chris with his palms at the same time. The older boy careened into me and fell to the pavement, almost knocking me down in his haste.

I had had enough. I helped Chris up to his feet, staring down the bullies; I knew my vibrant green eyes were sparkling dangerously, just as Lan's had every time he had faced the baddies of the Real World. I was human now, but that didn't mean I, Mega Man EXE, former NetBattler Navi supreme, would neglect those in need.

I stared at the bullies. My green-eyed glare.


	23. Yipes!

**Reviewer replies!**

**Star Holder Commander: I'm sorry about the chapter length, but I'm glad you like the fic. :D  
**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Feel sorry for the bullies? Feel sorry for the bullies! They don't get physically hurt, but yeah - I guess you've got a point... ;-)  
**

**Jhvh777: You honestly think so? If you do, you're in for a surprise... XD  
**

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**

**Lan's POV**

The skin around Mega Man's eyes tightened. Dex and Maylu were standing neck-to-neck to me, almost glued together, watching with bated breath, their eyes wide. I followed Mega's battle with the bullies through my own slitted eyes, momentarily aware of my hand, which had dropped to where my now-empty PET lay in my shorts pocket.

Mega glared at the bullies, his eyes grave and bright, glowing like hot sky-blue coals. As the chubby Chris was carefully helped to his feet, my former Navi's eyes remained locked on Jed Watson's and never wavered in his stare.

Jed was panicking, I could tell. His eyes were frantically whipping from left to right at the sight of this dangerous enemy, but he quickly composed himself. He reached for his PET, which was suspended from the belt that held his shorts together. Slowly, carefully, Jed detached the clasp from the chain of his belt, from which hung his PET. He deliberately unwound the chain from his azure terminal, then suddenly snapped the thick cord from it.

He held up the handheld computer and Navi holder combined, his big blue eyes boring into Mega Man's; my former Navi stared back at him with a level, even gaze. Jed's head was lowered so that a lock of his thick platinum-blond hair covered his eyes, which were glowing through his curtain of hair, just like Chaud's a short while back.

"NetBattle? I don't think so."

Jed gave a start and stared at Mega, who gazed back, the greenish glow from his eyes never wavering. They shone brightly through the contacts, like lighthouse beacons on a stormy night at sea. Jed finally pulled his gaze away from Mega, pivoting on his heel and leaning against the brick wall against him so that shadows covered his figure and cast his eyes into darkness, making him look eerie and-in an anime kind of way, of course-very annoying.

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Pikasqueaks: Aw, you blew it!

Lan: How?

Pikasqueaks: You were going on a perfect narration, just there, but you blew it with the anime comparison.

Lan: Well, if you must know - it _was_ very annoying and anime-ish.

Thecrazyfanficcer: (to Mega Man) This has seriously got to be the most intelligent piece of conversation they've had together since the beginning of this fanfic. It's really annoying.

Pikasqueaks and Lan: (both grin evilly)

Mega Man: I hate those evil, annoying, good-guys-will-rule-the-world-type grins.

Pikasqueaks: Well, we will rule the world!

Lan: Not to mention, this is the part where we lean back and watch Mega Man and Fanficcer fall to their inevitable doom!

Pikasqueaks: Doom!

Pikasqueaks and Lan: Inevitable, supreme, über-annoying doom-ful thingy!

Thecrazyfanficcer and Mega Man: (stare at each other and roll eyes)

Mega Man: Ah. Yes. Indeed.

Lan: (glances at PET) Lemme think for a second here. If we're gonna have a big battle, then about the only thing I can do is throw my PET right at Mega's forehead... Hey, that's not such a bad idea after all...

Mega Man: Uh... (sweatdrops) You wouldn't, would you?

Pikasqueaks: Would he ever! (cheeks begin to spark in a most evil, annoying way)

Thecrazyfanficcer: Let's hit the road, Jack!

Thecrazyfanficcer and Mega Man: (running) Aaaaaaahhh!

Lan: (throws PET) Go us!

----------------------------------------------------

"You expect me to believe that?" Jed asked.

Mega Man stood rooted to the spot, his green eyes blazing into the shadows that Jed's face was swimming in. I watched in pride and stupefied amazement as my Na-uh, former Navi miraculously managed to keep his cool and bit his upper lip, then glanced to the right. His eyes locked on mine: now we were one weird force, one Lan Hikari of DenTech City, and one Jack Miller, former NetBattler Mega Man.EXE, ripped straight out of Navi-world. I grinned, suddenly and evilly, and gave him the thumbs-up sign. Mega drew courage from that; his teeth fell from his lip and he swung slowly around to face Jed.

Jed seemed honestly and truly scared. Still surrounded by his group of bullies, he suddenly turned tail and ran, ran as fast as he could just before the bell rang. The kids around me began chanting, cheering and pumping their fists in the air as Mega Man grinned and flashed the peace sign. The peace sign - no offense - looked much better with me doing it than him. But either way, us, the kid population of the shining metropolis of DenTech City - well, we cheered and cheered for him.

In the corner of my eye, I saw a small yellow figure: he grinned and flashed yet another thumbs-up before darting away, his yellow coat melting in the daytime light. I raised one eyebrow, somewhat sarcastically-okay, a lot sarcastically-before I turned to make my way into the DenTech Academy.

Just as I ducked through the doors, swinging because of the many kids tramping through the entrance, I felt a hand on my back. I turned around, but it was just Ricky Marshall, a boy from the grade under me. His braces shined in the misted light under the canopy of the asphalted awning of the school entrance and his curly hair shivered slightly in the small wind. "Did you see that?" Ricky marvelled to me, his brown eyes glowing brightly.

I grinned. "That was Me-Jack Miller for you," I declared. "Hey, aren't you with the bullies?"

Ricky smiled back. "It was a fake," he assured me, "I'm on your side."

And with that, we proceeded to tow the poor, fallen Chris out of the concrete and into the light.

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**Hee, I love putting good guys on the bad side to spy on them. It was just a fake - Ricky, the African-American bully from before, was just faking it. I also happen to LOVE OC's. The other two bullies are Hank Douglas, the redhead, and Fred Wysocki, the oaken-haired shorty. Jed's NetNavi is a kind of white-suited electric-type named Rinny. (grins dementedly)**


	24. The Principal is In

**Reviwer replies... again.**

**Star Holder Commander: Glad you liked it - thanks for reviewing yet again. :-)  
**

**Jhvh777: A stalker? I don't think I'll put that in (Not even crazed fangirls - though that _would_ get pretty funny.) But how did Lan slip up, though? I don't get it... As for Pikasqueaks, though, he's a Pikachu.**

**Pikasqueaks: (mysteriously appearing on Fanficcer's shoulder) Which would make me its muse, I think. (grins evilly as cheeks start to spark dangerously)  
**

**Mega Man: (panicking) You're not about to shock us with your lightning now, are you? (sweatdrops nervously)**

**Pikasqueaks: (tossing a thunderbolt from one hand to the other) Oh, we'll see about that... MUAHAHAHA! (does the evil laugh-thing)**

**Me: OO; Anyway, thanks for reviewing... as you've been faithfully doing since Chapter 7. ;) **

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: And here I quote the noble game Tales of Symphonia (Dwarven Vow Number 7, to be exact): Goodness and love will always win - as the "baddies" very well found out by challenging Mega Man.  
**

**Right, so... Things that must be added to still-to-be-written epilogue... Let's see now - Chris, Bass, Wily, Lan, Maylu, Dex, Yai, Tory, Dark Rush - don't ask me who he is; it's a surprise! - possibly the real Rush, Yuuichiro, Haruka, Ace Lightstreak, Comet Man... Chris should be appearing again in the actual story, though. Thanks for reviewing again, loyal beta. XD**

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"So you're both all right, then?"

I nodded. Jed, however, had recovered most of his sarcasm and bullishness, and he suddenly aimed a fowl, evil glare in my direction. I ignored the azure stare; maybe I wouldn't feel his eyes, boring into my very soul, by averting him. That's what it seemed like, anyway, but I ignored the eyes and focused on the principal, who was sitting on his red-plush armchair in front of me. His monocle was wedged firmly in his left eye and his brown brush mustache wavered slightly as he opened his mouth to speak.

"No one got hurt?" he asked.

This time, we both shook our heads, but Jed glared at me malevolently and shoved, just enough so that to Principal Percival D. Herman - that's what it said on his nameplate, anyway - it appeared he was tapping me on the shoulder. In the midst of this action, the bully gave me an it's-all-your-fault look. I involuntarily rubbed the spot where the sharp tip of his elbow had poked me.

"Jedrick Fenton Watson. Stop pushing poor Jack," Principal Herman snapped suddenly, glaring full in the face at Jed, who recoiled in the wooden chair. The principal paused, as if deciding what to say next, then released the breath he was holding sharply. "And I have indeed observed how you and your gang of cronies enjoy bullying the boy Christopher J. Richardson. Well, I'm changing things, Jedrick. As of this day forth, if you are ever seen bullying Christopher, or anyone else, you will be caught and severely punished."

Jed stared hard at the firm figure staring at him from behind the desk that separated us from Principal Herman. They stared long and hard at each other, until Jed had the small bit of wisdom to get to his feet, knocking me in the ribs again as he did so. Principal Herman stared at us both, then made the sign to dismiss us.

The bully made for the solid oak door, just behind Principal Herman's desk, and I made to follow him. Then, though, the DenTech Academy principal beckoned to me. I waited patiently until Jed left, one hand unconsciously going to the emblazoned pendant around my neck.

"Are you all right, Jack?" Principal Herman's low, deep voice was quiet, but the meaning drilled right through me.

I nodded. "No problems here, sir."

His head lowered slightly so that he actually looked scary, Principal Herman gave a short, curt nod back. I could actually feel the hairs on the back of my neck going up in fear and possible surprise (_What in the world?_ I thought furiously. _I'm scared of my Net Op's principal?_) "All right, then." And with that, he motioned for me to leave.

I passed through the swinging doors with a confused look on my face, wrinkling my forehead in thought. I'd saved Chris, for now and for probably some looong while into the future, and though I was slightly scared of the Dentec principal, I knew my fears were groundless. _But still, _I reflected as I walked the tile-lined hallways, _I can't help but hope to have better days than this._ I mean, how many school administrators do you know that strike fear into the hearts of bullies and good guys alike?


	25. Snickers to you, Hikari

**H'y'all! Reviwer replies again.**

**Jhvh777: Little kids can smell fear? Long tale, by the way. ;D My OC is really that scary? Weird...  
**

**Star Holder Commander: Finally, Commander! Something that'll change the fate of my Mega Man fanfics forever! (holds up hands while forks of lightning flash dramatically in background) Translation: I'll use your idea in my epilogue and it'll run for probably most of these stories, changing loads of stuff along the way! XD**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: My... My principal was funny? The idea was actually kind of weird, if you ask me... (shrugs) Anyway - on with the fanfic! ;) (Also, try and be nice to your mom!)  
**

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**Lan's POV**

Mega Man nodded and bade Chris goodbye. I waited a little impatiently - okay, a lot impatiently - as he said something to the younger boy, who replied quietly, his face solemn. I couldn't help but notice how Chris's hand went to his neck as he talked, right on top of the thick golden chain he'd been wearing as a necklace for as long as I could remember. When they were done, Mega headed back to us, his face abnormally serious.

"He says he wears that chain because his mom gave it to him the day before she died," he informed us, eyes on the sidewalk. "It's his last keepsake of her."

We walked on then, the four of us together, but staying mostly to ourselves. I was lost in thought; I knew the others were, too. (Seriously, it's just about the _only_ time you're gonna see Dex thinking.)  
As if to get our minds off of it, Maylu sneakily asked some while later, "So, what do you think of our school, Mega-uh, Jack?"

"Neat," he replied cheerfully, the bag bouncing on his back as we went along; his former sadness appeared to have disappeared... Wait, that sounds bad. (rolls eyes) Anyway... "I think I'll go again tomorrow."

Me and Dex gagged in absolute unison and must have looked shocked, amazed, and repulsed at the same time. Maylu, however, seemed pleased. "That's great news, Mega Man," she told my former NetNavi. "It's good to know someone finally wants to learn around here, unlike those two," she added, rolling her eyes playfully in our direction.

"Aw, they're not as dumb as they look," Mega grinned in joking reply. He sent an annoying wink in our direction. "You just have to say things extra slow so they can understand."

Know what we me and Dex did? We groaned. And groaned. And groaned...

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When Maylu had been returned to her pink-and-red house a few minutes later, I rounded on Mega Man."_Nobody_ takes Maylu from me!" I thundered at him. "And I mean_ nobody,_ especially not my twin, best friend and former Navi!" I lunged for him, but Mega Man tossed me a sparkling grin and grabbed my arm - stopping me in my tracks - just as I was about to bring it on.

My face must have registered shock then (I mean, come on, man, since when was he that strong?) as I forced my arm in his grip, which did absolutely nothing to help the situation. At first I thought Mega Man was going to throw me down like they did in karate class, you know, just by sweeping his hand downward, but he did something worse – and much more painful.

Mega tightened his grip on my fist, and, before I could do anything at all, he twisted my arm. Just like that. All the way down so that it hung limply at my side and the pain flamed from my wrist all the way to my shoulder. I yelped, very much in pain before staring at Mega Man, who grinned back triumphantly and patted me on my mass of spiky hair. "Never underestimate your elders, Lan Hikari. I thought you should have known that by now."

Clamping one hand to my injured forearm and glaring at him darkly, I actually had enough voice in me to yell out loud: "_You're only three minutes older than me!"_

Mega grinned annoyingly and faced the north, as if waiting for an imaginary breeze to ruffle his hair (who was he – Brad Pitt's teenage son?) and tossed a dazzling smile into the DenTech countryside. Then he turned back to me and Dex, though his green eyes were half-glazed and – in short – he looked, well... Intelligent.

"Which probably explains why I'm smarter _and_ more handsome than you," Mega Man Mega smirked to the two of us, his eyes glowing in a most degrading fashion.

"Why you little-" And I lunged for him again, feeling oddly like Homer Simpson as Mega grabbed me in one smooth movement before tossing me onto the floor, right beside Dex's blue Nikes. The big guy was choking with laughter as he reached out a hand to help me up.


	26. The World is Crashing Around my Ears

**Here we go again with the reviewer replies...**

**Star Holder Commander: Hey! What happened to the stream of ideas that will come in handy for the epilogue (and other BN fics)? Last chappie your idea was awesome! Must...have...more... XD  
**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Lan saying 'curry' like Homer says 'donuts'... It wouldn't have the same effect - you can't eat curry with just your hands, after all (But maybe Lan and/or Homer could!). :D By the way, why'd you call my OC Chris-chan? Wouldn't that mean he's a girl...?**

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"And I thought you were my friend!"

Lan's eyes were burning with a roaring brown fire as Dex helped him to his feet. My anger dissipated as I saw my Net Op – okay, former Net Op – so hurt. In felt guilty as he swung himself up onto his roller blades, started toward me, fell, got up again, and resumed skating forward. He stared at me, eyes locked on my nose - but, alas, my extra three centimetres didn't really help much on Lan's part. I held out my hands and took a step backward, the sign of peace.

"Whoa, Lan." I bit my lip and glanced around nervously as he came toward me, Dex and Maylu's figures faintly blurred in the background. "Watch." His arm was still hanging at his side like an abandoned sock puppet; in one sure movement I grabbed it by his wrist and pressed one finger down, right below the knuckle.

Lan stood staring at me for a few seconds, then I saw shock replace anger as a tiny shimmering sparkle flickered around his whole arm, leaving shining white rings wherever it went. It touched here, it tapped there, and it must have been so amazing for Dex, who was watching from behind us. His were eyes so wide it seemed to make his mohawk stand up. Maylu - well, she just looked shocked and incredibly happy. (She made me think of Roll somehow. It was actually a pleasant feeling...)

"It's almost like a Recover chip." Lan rubbed his arm, reflecting about something, then glanced up. "Oh. Right." He blushed. "Sorry. For getting mad at my own _NetNavi."_

"_No problemo, amigo_," I laughed in my fake Spanish accent. "After all, you're younger than me. You have a right to be a little dumb."

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Five minutes later, and Dex was still laughing. 'I'm smarter and more handsome than you.' He echoed these words of three minutes past. "That's the funniest thing I ever heard in my life."

Lan shot a glare in my direction. I grinned evilly.

A short while later, Maylu left for her fuchsia-coloured house, which was a this point a large red-violet dot on the horizon. Dex and I bade her goodbye, but Lan was still fuming. We set off again, this time detouring around the park so that we would end up right in front of Dex's yellow house, which - ironically enough - squatted down right beside the subway station.

I felt guilt toward my former Net Op so, a few minutes later, I slowed my gait until he was right next to me. His arms were crossed, his eyes were burning with a furious flame, his face was shadowed, and he was staring at me in a most hostile and, I must add, incredibly annoying way.

"Lan," I said quietly, my head bowed. In addition to feeling really guilty, I felt rejected; I could feel his eyes on my neck. "I...um...I'm not sure I'm sorry, but I _am_ feeling incredibly guilty right now..."

"That's all right," he replied, cool as you please, with the quickest of mood changes. I looked up, surprised. "You can annoy me in the worst way ever possible... Just let me chase you first."

Now he looked crazily insane, evil, even. "Uh, Lan? I thought I was faster than you?" I stuttered in a small, tiny voice.

"Give you one hint, _Jack_," he whispered furiously, his eyebrows slanting together and his brown eyes gleaming. He muttered something into my ear.

"Run!"

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It was quite a while later when returned to Lan's house. I was considerably out of breath and my former Operator even more, but he had somehow managed to catch me, twice, by the ankles. Both times, I had managed to run off into the sunset, but Lan being who he was... Well, let's just say my legs were on fire and my ankles were even worse.

"Mom!" Lan called when we walked through the door. I immediately sought refuge by bounding up the stairs as quickly and quietly as I could, hoping that a short stay in his bedroom would soothe my aching legs. "You know, right?"

There was something to do with the sight of Lan's short, pretty mother, appearing from the kitchen, her brown eyes akindle. She was wiping her hands on a dish towel and looked up as he approached. "Of course I know," she replied with a smug grin. "No stopping mothers."

I paused suddenly and leaned over the hallway railing, watching as she passed them with the biggest of cheesy, gloating grins. I now knew where Lan had gotten his craziness from.

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My aching legs were still pounding when Lan ascended to his room a few minutes later. One hand was on his PET; I knew he wanted to jack me in, maybe run crazily around the Internet, but I couldn't let him."Sorry," I muttered, wincing, as I got up from his bed. "I think this pain is gonna follow me through the Internet - if I actually want to go."

"Really?" Lan dared question my authority just then, sliding, almost, a smooth orange and white figure, over to his dresser, which he then proceeded to lean against, arms crossed. "I think you'll be OK, Mega Man.EXE?" He held the blue PET up temptingly, invitingly.

_He's insane,_ I thought as I stared at my former Net Op. Indeed, his eyes were glowing, his expression was crazily demented, and he triumphantly pumped his PET-hand into the air as I watched. "Trust me."

"It's not that I actually trust you," I told him, cocking my head cheekily to the side as I stared at him, "but I have nothing else to do. And, hopefully, I won't get more hurt than I already am."

"I'm right, of course," Lan assured me, grinning as he shoved the cord of his PET into the port at the side of his PC. "Jack in, Mega Man, power up!"

I materialised easily and with speed, directly onto the 'Net's silver-tiled flooring. I grinned suddenly and rushed into the blackness beyond, my body energised and my limbs renewed as I let my hand transform itself into my handy Mega Buster. It had been a while since I'd done this; the last time had been when I'd been fighting with Proto Man. You had to admit, living between the Internet and Lan's PET was good, though I wanted something more. It was now too normal, too regular. I wanted to just be out there, back in the Real World. Not right away, though - now was the time for a little virusbustin'.

It hadn't begun yet – I was standing, fully fledged, smack-dab in the middle of the Internet's smooth tiling, and wasn't about to let it go to waste. I zinged down from the circular portal set in the floor of the tiles, to the other side of the 'Net, all in the space of approximately three point five seconds. I can imagine what I must've looked like – a bluish, yellow-streaked blur that was nigh-invisible at first sight.

As I ran, I thought I heard one program comment to a standard green Navi, "Wow, look at that guy go."

He had a point: nothing was impossible, nothing was unbeatable, everything was doable, and no challenge was to great for the power of the good side. A somewhat accurate thought at that point, considering -

"Ow!" I muttered, gathering my injured leg from under me and attempting to right myself. I'd tripped over something lunky standing up in the middle of my pathway – no, not lunky, but rather bunched up into a tight little ball. I tried to pull my leg free from the ball-shaped thing, but it clung on, black and dangerous, so much like some demented octopus Navi's tentacles. I tried to shoot at it with my Buster, but to no avail. I looked up into someone's face, a face of one so wicked that it was literally etched in cruelty; I could see the evil embedded in the Navi's eyes and yet never still, always moving, flowing, spreading, suffusing, misting the eyes over so that they were dark and clouded.

It was Bass.

This was not the first time, nor the last, that I had seen him. Bass was one of the most scariest (pardon the grammar) NetNavis out there, a chillingly horrid black figure who haunted the deepest, darkest corners of the Undernet, where the very air slicked back with fear and horror. Actually, I didn't know where he wandered; together with his cruel mad scientist of an Operator, Wily, he was liable to appear in any of the darkest, furthest regions of the Internet. Bass, along with his cohorts, could make himself scarce and pretty much disappear any time he wanted to. So, in other words, I figured he penetrated the invisible barrier that separated the Undernet from the rest of the Internet. It wasn't a normal barrier; rather, it had been created – and was still kept thriving – in the past, on account of the evil that could lurk through its tormenting twists and turns, its dastardly dips and ducks.

"Hello, Mega Man," Bass sneered, holding up his left hand and snapping his fingers so that the bomb-like black thing clutching onto my leg like some explosive parasite floated into his outstretched palm. Despite the fact that his body was shrouded in a tight sable-coloured cloak, he somehow managed to give me his evil, clouded glare, enough so that I felt it boring a hole through my soul. Undefeated, I rose, wobbily but without hesitation, to my feet and stared him right in the eye. My hand was in Buster format; I pushed the blue canon forward ever so slowly, so Bass would know who he was dealing with.

"Bass. How could you." It wasn't a question. I stepped forward, tough, in my element, as the evil Navi would try to down me – _sans doute_, there was nothing in the world that could stop this guy, as he clearly thought.

He shrugged. "I've watched you, Mega Man.EXE." He looked up suddenly, his face wreathed in a wicked smile. "I've seen everything Chaud Blaze has, and more. And now, because of your horridly meddlesome nature – everyone has different artificial intelligence, and yours happens to be most annoying – you will have to be deleted. Destroyed, in other words, so that evil can make its mark."

Bass grinned dementedly and, yet somehow sanely, tipped his head downward so that his (cough - outrageous - cough) peaked hat threw his face in shadow. Instinctively, I took a step back – at the same time, Bass.EXE, Navi to the criminal genius and mastermind Albert W. Wily, made his mark.

He formed a dark energy ball in his gloved hands, rolling it around like a snowball in the making – not a clinging-on type ball like before, but one so evil that it seemed to be created with flowing, dappled shadows – aimed, steadied, fired. I stood, motionless, my feet having taken root in the ground, as the energy ball came hurtling my way.

I still hadn't moved when it crashed into my crest.

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**That last scene is dedicated to Fiinikkusu Akumu. It was in the original copy of this fic, but I may not of posted it otherwise. ;) That's Forte for you, peeps! MUAHAHAHA! **


	27. Caught in my Predicament

**Here we go once again with the reviewer replies. **

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Yep, you like my cliffies. Go figure. About Chris... It was a mistake, then. If you get hyper, call him Richardson-san.** ;)

**Jhvh777: Yay! People like my cliffies! (begins swirling like a disco maniac) ;D**

**Star Holder Commander: Hm... Tell you what. This isn't a crossover fic, so instead of using your idea, I'll send it back to you, new and improved. Remember your fanfic 'How I Ended Up on the Net and Met Some New Friends' (could use a name change, by the way)? Well, how about you use my idea for the later chapters? After fighting the monster, Bass appears and shoots a ball of darkness toward Tommy, who passes out again. Later he is woken in the Digital World by his friend, my character Kaze (Japanese for wind). Only, there's something different about her: she's a Digimon (Invent one)! Eventually, Tommy and Kaze find Lan and his pals, their friends, and the Digi Destins - all turned into Digimon! How 'bout that, Commander? XD**

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The world was hazy and disoriented when I came to. The shapes of Lan and his mom were slightly blurred as I rematerialised in the Real World; they were both anxiously staring down at me from where I was lying on the floor, a few metres away from Lan's bed. How in the world had I ended up here? I supposed Bass' ball of darkness had done something to me; only problem was, I didn't know what.

"Are you all right?" Lan's mother asked nervously as her son helped me up. She was chewing on her lip and casting nervous glances around the room, as if Bass would suddenly appear right in front of us.

"I think so," I replied, reaching out one hand as Lan helped me clamber to my feet. I tried to stand, but to no avail. My former Net Op steadied me, guiding me toward the western wall, before I looked up at his mom.

"Get your dad, Lan," she instructed him, a commander in her own field of war. Lan, meanwhile, nodded, fearful and pale-faced, before hightailing it out of there as fast as his orange roller skates could take him, though not without clenching his left hand on a silver handle set in the wall.

"Mega Man – over there." Lan's mother stood pointing, firm and somewhat fierce in her own motherly way. I took one glance at her pale arm stretched out toward her son's bed and knew it to be a rapid signal that should be obeyed in the space of approximately two point three seconds.

I nodded and was about to release my hand from a small silver handle cemented into the foundations of Lan's room I was clutching for balance when I suddenly stopped to ponder it. "What's this?" I queried, staring down at the handle. It was rather small in comparison with everything else in the room, about half a metre long. The metal was burnished and yet still shone silver; I guessed it was made out of nickel.

She smiled in return. "When Lan was really young, before he met Dex, he used to have a standard Navi. He would jack the Navi in, grab onto his PET with one hand and something else, usually the doorknob or part of the bed's headboard. I think he used to pretend that he was a Navi himself, fighting alongside the standard. Anyway, he tended to get the doorknob and headboard all grimy and scratched, so I replaced them both and had this installed. We had to break through the framework of the whole room," she explained with a laugh.

I grinned back slightly and shuffled over to the bed, still weak from my ordeal. As I swung myself over the covers and Lan's mother disappeared to get something – food or drink, I figured – I considered my predicament, somewhat morosely.

_Let's see... My Net Op/best friend/twin brother is now my _former_ Net Op. I've been running rampant in the Real World for almost a week now, free and disguised as a human. I've just had an encounter with one of the most evil NetNavis in the whole Internet – Bass, whose Operator just so happens to be a mad scientist and criminal mastermind (_whoa, this is starting to remind me of Artemis Fowl. Foaly invents Navis and Artemis attempts to steal the technology! Well, OK, maybe not. XD) _and I'm caught here in the Real World with no way of getting back home. Lan's getting his father, but..._

But then again, I considered, staring up at the ceiling, maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed.


	28. You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

**On with the reviewer replies...**

**Star Holder Commander: I notice you didn't use the idea, which is fine by me. So instead I'll let you use Kaze if and when you want - just don't forget my credit on her name. ;)**

**Jhvh777: Op. him? Sorry, I don't get it. Now I'm confused. :D**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Heh... You read the Opal Deception, right? (If you didn't, I suggest you do that soon.) In any case, Eoin Colfer was way too obvious at the end that there's going to be a fifth one. Right, so about Bass... Naw, they already have a Dark Rockman. As for the Lan in the Cyberworld - it's an intriguing idea, isn't it? And it also reminds me strangely of my Rockman.exe fanfic. XD**

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Lan's POV

In the space of approximately five minutes and ten seconds, I was standing in front of the door that marked the entrance to Dad's office in SciLabs. Don't ask me how I got there; it involved the big steel bumper of one of the DenTech city buses. Not a pretty sight, to say the least – the back of my leg was scraped right through the skin where the bumper had slammed against it and my roller blades had almost cracked into pieces during the chase. Scowling, I stared at the door. Now what was the code password again? Yai had given it to me way back when Mega had first appeared in the Real World, but by now I had forgotten.

Lo and behold, I didn't actually have to do anything. Suddenly, someone clicked the door open, and out came my father. His eyes were fixed on a 2021 BlackBerry in his hand; he hadn't noticed me. Dad!" I called urgently to him.

Dad didn't seem to take note of my plea. Thinking quickly, I bit my lip as I turned around and scampered ahead of him, so that when he turned the corner ahead of him I would be in plain sight (I know, not the world's brightest idea...). Sadly, my efforts brought no fruit. _That's weird_, I thought furiously as Dad hurried along right in front of me – without noticing, I can't help but add – _there's gotta be a way to do this. He's my dad. My Navi's in danger. He invented Navis. _Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind. _I wonder..._

That got me thinking, of course. Quickly, I ducked under a spotlight; as of the moment, it was off and unused. If I was lucky, no one would notice me. I pulled my PET out of my shorts pocket and began to dial his name and code: some PETs, like mine, were configured so that everyone had a screen name, the same way they e-mailed around 2006, when PETs were first invented by Grandpa. Dad's screen name was superscientist860 and his code was 500AFTY62. It had been my idea in the first. He hadn't liked it. Too technical in this day and age, he had told me, a little chagrined.

Anyway - here I was, trying to send Dad a message by e-mail, and he still wasn't answering! I couldn't believe it. What was the deal with this guy, anyway? I was his son, and he still hadn't noticed me trying to get his attention. I mean, my Navi was in the Real World – he knew it, and here I was... Gr... Yeah. I know. I sound weird. So anyway I was about to abandon all hope when a voice in front of me declared, "Lan! Yes, I know you're following me. What is it that you want?"

My father was glaring down at me. I grinned, snapped my eyes shut, and sweatdropped.

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Thecrazyfanficcer: Ooh, Lan's sweatdropping!

Lan: (infuriated) Point being?

Mega Man: You do that about every two episodes, ain't that right, Lanny baby? (grins evilly)

Lan: (sweatdrops again) I would groan, except I'm...uh...

Thecrazyfanficcer: Crazy!

Mega Man: Yeah, but we knew that already. So is Fanficcer, now that I think about it.

Lan: You evil NetNavi... Wait a minute - did you just call me Lanny baby...?


	29. Use the Courage

**OK, reviewer replies again…**

**Terratasha: I thought you'd review at Chapter 30. ;) Technically speaking, I knew Lan and Mega were twins, as I told you before (In my fics, Mega Man's three minutes older and three centimetres taller than Lan) – and now I changed it. As for Haruka… That's just yet another thing to add to the epilogue. (groans)**

**Star Holder Commander: Bad Yuuichiro! Bad! Why are you so OOC for? (hits him)**

**Rose Kitsune.EXE: Yeah, poor Root! Forced to die a tragic Opal Koboi-caused death on page 88. (sniffles) Right, for Lan's dad: as I told Terratasha quite a way back, that's just not-plotting-properly-ness. He's not working with Chaud (Have you figured out why he's acting so _evilly _yet?); it's just OOC-ness. (Mm, now I know we both like Mega Man/Rockman, Artemis Fowl, the Simpsons, and Danny Phantom. I wonder what else we have in common?)**

**PS: Who's Jerome? Is he your muse? I also happen to have an OC named that, but with accents. XD**

**Jhvh777: Oh, so _that's_ what you meant. Wily and Bass _are_ working together, along with Ace Lightstreak and Comet Man. Yeah, I know Lan can actually see Wily in the room when Mega Man confronts Bass, but hey! Do I look like Keiji Inafune? XD**

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**A/N: OK, now we're taking a MAJOR nosedive into Mega's subconscious. You may get confused…**

**Mega Man's POV**

I groaned as I came to.

There was a small, black figure perched on my stomach; a little, familiar-looking dog that I'd seen once through the screen of Lan's PET. They called him the Dark Rush; his likeness was the exact same as that of my friend Roll's dog Rush, hence the nickname. The only difference was that this guy Rush had a darker pelt and eyes that seemed to be closed all the time.

"Mega Man," the Dark Rush said simply, padding over from my stomach up to my neck. He reached out one paw and smoothed my black hair back. "Don't give up."

Before I go on, I should explain about Fanficcer's annoyingly mysterious OC. In his own terms, he was a fatedog; he actually despised being called the Dark Rush. (Why do I keep calling him that?) He delivered fate – at least, he proclaimed what would happen in the near future – to good guys and bad guys alike; supposedly, he was neutral to either side. And me? I think he's a good guy. But one can never be sure. Anyway, he's the world's most mischievous rogue, master of fanfics – he looked like Rush, of course, but according to him, he appeared in other people's worlds. Whatever had a fanfic, be it video game, book, movie, TV show, or anything else in between. And how do I know this, you ask. Well, easy. He told me and Lan – and the bad guys too, I presume – a little while after Lan first met him.

Right, enough with the fatedog's estranged tendencies. I suddenly took stock of the world around me. The outlook was dim. Not only did I feel weak and helpless, but it was more than just a feeling. I glanced down, trying not to upset the Dark Rush on my neck. I happened to be in the same clothes I'd worn in the Real World – the green Adidas sweater was still there, along with the jeans and black shirt under it, but I had the feeling my contacts were gone. I felt leadenly heavy, as if something were weighing me down hard. Mist was hazing up my vision again, though where I was, I didn't know. It wasn't the Internet and it definitely wasn't the Real World. Maybe it was a cross between the two...?

"You're in your mind, Mega," the Dark Rush assured me before I could speak. I was suddenly wracked by a bout of pain that stabbed into my spine like a million tiny needle jabs. I spasmed, choking wildly as I tried to heave myself onto my feet.

Suffice to say, it didn't work.

I lay back down onto the uneven and yet smooth ground, gasping heavily, looking up at the Dark Rush. "This is made up of your best memories and your worst ones," he continued, gesturing vaguely with one dark paw. "Nothing's the same anymore, Mega Man, but you're better off than you ever were."

"H-How...can...I be?" I managed to choke out as I was viciously pressed onto the ground, convulsing weakly on the floor because of the pressure that now pounded me, grabbed me in its painful grip. "I-I'm in the most terrible pain ever, and...I'm not really...helping, i-is it?"

"Of course you are." The Dark Rush blinked. "What makes you say that?"

"I'm small...a-and I was trying t-to save the...world and now…I can't even g-get up." I was wheezing; I felt as if I had a huge burden weighing down on my chest, constricting me from getting up and talking properly. Not the Dark Rush; rather, it was like Navis' past, present and future all depended on me. The future of Navis and humans was hanging on my shoulders and I wasn't prepared.

"A-Also…W-What happened…t-to all the mis…chief y-you had before?… N-Now you're…way more serious."

He looked at me strangely. "I don't have to be a crazed fatedog all the time." He paused, then went on. "The power is in you, Mega Man," the Dark Rush declared as he disappeared with a pop and a cloud of smoke.


	30. War and Peace

**Lan's POV**

"Where's Yai? I can't do this without her!"

"Calm down, Tory, calm down." Maylu Sakurai placed her palms on Tory Froid's shoulders, though it did nothing to calm down the younger student. Mind, why should it? I mean, Yai Ayano -- at two years younger than us -- was the second-smartest person we knew, had known, or ever would know. BONUS: He also liked her -- which didn't help matters in a case like this.

So, one could see why Tory was panicking. Maylu's reassuring touch helped him somewhat; he fell limp in front of the specialised computer.

"Wow. This is tough." Dex paced around the small back room of SciLabs. My dad had told me to e-mail my friends and get us all over here, though I wondered where he had dispersed to. We were now in a war, a war that - oddly enough -- involved Navis, Navis, and more Navis. I was chewing my lip – and anytime you can actually get Lan Hikari to start pacing most agitatedly, you know something's up. "First it was Mega Man, now every single Navi we know is caught in the Real World. And, not to mention, there's a big war going on at the good ol' park." Dex paused his pacing, his eyes wide and worried. "Yup, definitely not good. Especially when NetBattles are supposed to be fun."

"I'm stocking BattleChips. I'm stocking BattleChips," Tory muttered quickly to himself as his fingers flew, a skin-coloured blur, over the keys. "I'm preparing them from NetNavi data and DNA. Some of them were just invented by Yai and me, but I don't care. I'm saving everyone." He looked at the sky-blue PET in his pocket and a smiled curved his features. "Isn't that right, Ice Man?"

Tory's face fell as he realised his Navi was not there. We were all deeply saddened by the thought – then our attention was snapped back into reality as something happened on the computer screen in front of Tory. Something very odd indeed.

My Net Navigator, Mega Man.EXE, was walking onto the battlefield. And it wasn't a nice sight.

The CyberSword was fused with his gloved hand. Unaided by me – just goes to show you that a Navi in the Real World can do anything they set their heart to. And this thing was fighting. Not going down in the face of danger. Falling, yeah, but not going down; always back on their feet in the matter of seconds. Either way you looked at it, Mega Man was not over yet. Nor would he be for a looooong time.

I watched, my mouth open, my breath bated, as he mounted an imaginary podium. Watched in shocked amazement as his opponent stepped up to fight him.

Proto Man.EXE.

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The sword fused with his hand, Mega faced Proto Man. The now-evil red-clad NetNavi looked back, his expression hidden under the shades that were always perched upon the bridgeof his nose. He faced the humanized Navi, and his expression was one of hatred and scorn.

All at once, they began to fight.

The swords were clashing, one against the other, in blurs of yellow and white. For me, it was a replay of the fight he had with Proto before, when we thought Mega Man had been deleted. In reality, well – what? I didn't know what that meant; I'd saved him from deletion, but... NAVIS WERE IN THE REAL WORLD. That _had_ to mean something. (rolls eyes) Anyway, it was different this time, though – as if I could tell it was his dying day – deletion day – doomsday – whatever -- and that he wouldn't be rescued by yours truly. The spectators had all fallen silent, Navis and humans, good and bad, all temporarily halted as they watched the spectacle before them. The life had been sucked out of the very air, it seemed; everything had gone frosty and dead. The echoes of sword upon sword filled the silence, resonating off the people, the Navis, everything. Even the slide... I remembered when Arnie and I had met Dex and Mega there. Now, it seemed like really long ago, like a distant memory lost in the past... But it was still there, as was the NetNavi who was now duelling with Chaud's, right in front of my eyes...

Suddenly, I was snapped out of my thoughts by a cry – a muffled, suppressed cry, but a cry nonetheless. I stared as Proto Man allowed his own CyberSword, which was normally fused to his arm like a replacement hand, to melt away. The data particles shimmered into nothingness, and I saw why. Proto Man placed one foot across Mega Man's chest, as he had done so many eons ago...

He looked evil as he held up two fists. A soft silver sheen spread over his forearms, and two CyberSwords appeared on each one. He dived in for the kill...


	31. Knight of Red

**If you guys thought the last chappie was intense, you're gonna flip with this one's POV.**

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...and failed.

Within a second Mega Man had rolled away was back on his feet, at the ready for the next attack. I gritted my teeth and swung both swords with a synchronised motion, but he pressed forward, his own CyberSword reappearing on his Buster hand. Mega Man swung his arm -- and the sword came with it. I ground my teeth against my tongue -- so hard it almost bled -- and tried once more. Needless to say, it failed. Again. Mega simply dodged the blow and instantly we were fighting again, sword upon sword upon sword. The air was empty save the clashing sounds of the three blades. On and on we fought -- Mega Man showed a lot of fatigue or exhaust, but he never stopped fighting, always back on his blue-booted feet to counter my blows.

It aggravated me. You know that kid from Shaman King, Yoh or whatever his name is? That was who Mega Man reminded me of at the moment – fighting, ever fighting, but with this kind of sad, almost mournful look in his eyes. He was getting on my nerves, and I had the feeling that he knew he was torturing me in that way of his, but it was as if he didn't care, as if it was his dying day and nothing mattered anymore.

I finally decided that brute force wasn't going to help. No matter how many times I would knock him down, Mega Man would just get back on his feet again. And again. And again. I had to stop him for good, but how?

That's when my brilliant AI got to work.

I deflected each and every one of Mega Man's blows with my red-gloved hand rather than my own CyberSwords -- which I let disappear of their own accord -- before sending a rapid-fire succession of MiniBoomers. Nothing big, I know, just enough to get him in the mood. He evaded most of them, but a few made their mark and wreaked havoc on his blue armour and tightsuit. In a matter of seconds, he was scored all over with small dents and indentations.

I was definitely knew I was going to win. I grinned vindictively and bared my teeth (Don't ask me why). As soon as Mega Man tried to get up again, I pounced. He tried to throw me off, but I was in my element now. I pressed my boots down harder onto his yellow-ringed crest – pathetic crest, really; mine and Ryozo's is _so_ much better – and stabbed the swords down into the soft flesh of his neck.

"It's over, Mega Man," I grinned evilly, "Prepare to die." He looked back up at me, shock and what – hurt? How is that possible? – in his green eyes, and clamped one hand to his neck, where blood was spurting from the wound.

"It's not over yet, Proto Man.EXE," he said, right into my face as if good would always win (which, I knew, it wouldn't). "It never will be."

And then all havoc broke loose.

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**I've never actually seen a whole episode of Shaman King, if you're wondering. :) Supposingly Yoh is a laid-back kind of guy, but I just thought he looked kind of mournful when he was fighting.**


	32. A Shocking Cliffie

**Woot! Another weird POV! Go fanfics!**

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Mega fainted.

He fell onto the ground, his eyes closing slowly as his thin, suddenly frail-seeming form was knocked out in slow motion. I unconsciously leaned forward from my comfy perch atop the slide, but I reined myself just in time._ Must -- not -- try -- to -- screw -- things -- up -- before -- it's -- time_, I thought rapidly as I wildly tried to stop myself from doing anything. I clamped my mandibles together and swivelled myself downward -- past the fallen humanized Navi, past the shocked good guys, past the jubilant bad guys -- to witness a figure coming from the shadows. He had a tall, cutting figure; when he glided out from under the slide, I had to bit my lips down hard to stop myself from saying anything.

Ace Lightstreak.

Of course, Fanficcer -- being who it was -- had told me this would happen, but still... A deep, hidden conscience, buried under thoughts and memories, was screaming in anguish. _Save them! I gotta save them!_ I, now desperate, tried to squash down my instincts as I watched Lightstreak emerge from the shadows.

The pink squirrel slide casting his thin, pale face deeply in shadow, Ace Lightstreak came forth from the gloom. He had an evil smirk on his lips as he toyed with his smooth, spiky, pale yellow hair. "Why, hello, all."

Something had clicked in Lan's brain. I watched the confused expression make its appearance on his face, though this was soon followed by the dawning of recognition and comprehension. Having figured it out, his fists balled slowly, a frown appearing on his brow, as -- last but not least -- his spiky head tipped downward, ever so slowly, ever so dangerously -- not in cool mode this time, but the kind of thing that just told you good was always going to win, was always going to triumph against bad. Lan's hand clenched around his PET; his head went back up ever so slowly, ever so dangerously -- still bathed in shadow -- as he stared down the enemy.

"Lightstreak." His voice shaking slightly, Lan glared the aforementioned bad guy in the eye. "Lightstreak. What have you done?"

Lightstreak was evilly pleasant -- as always. Man, it's so annoying. (rolls eyes) "What do you think I've done?" he replied, once more running his hand through his mass of moon-coloured hair. "I screwed up the Internet forever by bringing Mega Man into the Real World -- all by aid of this." He snapped his fingers. "Proto Man, could you please give me the Interworld Connector?"

I saw shock register on everyone's faces as a familiar -- yet not so familiar -- red-clad figure stealthily crept up behind Lightstreak, a glistening machine shaped like a thick bluish bracelet in his hand. I also saw Lan and Mega's dad, Yuuichiro, lurch forward angrily. His fists were balled, his glasses were askew, his hair was dishevelled -- in short, he looked kind of like his son standing before him, in front of Lightstreak. "Cyril Jackson." Yuuichiro's voice was low yet lethal. "Ace Lightstreak. Yeah, right. Cyril Jackson is more like it. You are_ so_ going to pay for this."

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I was surprised. Suffice to say, the man who had created Navis himself was out of character. At least the little ignoring-Lan scheme way back when had been a mildly intelligent thing to do, but this was downright idiotic. Rash. Reckless. Lannish or Lloyd-esque, in other words. So, I rolled my eyes -- and not as much to my surprise this time, Fanficcer appeared right across from me. It was, in essence, a shaded humanoid figure with luminous green eyes -- and don't forget the figure perched on its shoulder. You know who: Pikasqueaks. Still, I was grinning as I turned away from the war scene.

"You know, the readers might not know who Lloyd is," Fanficcer confided in me, crossing its legs and patting Pikasqueaks on the nose, the muse just having jumped from its shoulder.

"Mm..." I took a wild stab at craziness -- even though I'm a master of that sort of thing myself, everyone has to just stab randomly sometimes. "Let me guess. Now we're just going to stare expectantly at the betas?"

TCF, the Dark Rush, and Pikasqueaks stare expectantly at Jhvh, Commander, Rose, Akumu, and Terratasha.

At this point, Fanficcer stroked its chin thoughtfully, considering its options. "Well, the readers might know," it finally told me with the faint inklings of a grin metamorphosing its shaded features into something that was both demented _and_ insane.

"And if not, we can always tell 'em," Pikasqueaks tossed in with an indifferent shrug. He then got his own small yellow self to reminiscing, his eyes flazed over with memories. "You know, in this fic there was this part where I was originally supposed to be chased from Andross."

"From Star Fox." It wasn't a question; I was rolling my eyes as I turned back to Fanficcer. "You know, buddy -- you're crazy."

My answer came in shrug form. "Meh -- it doesn't matter. Back to the fanfic."

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"Proto Man!" Lan's voice was strained as he tried to restrain himself from lunging -- which, I want to tell you, he really, really, _really_ wanted to do. "How come Proto's working for you now?"

"You didn't figure it out, Hikari?" Lightstreak asked, genially surprised as he scratched one side of his spike-hairedd head. "Funny -- I thought it was obvious."

He pondered for a moment before answering, thin fingers rubbing his chin stubble. "Well, see I had an _accomplice_." The last word -- was pronounced sneeringly by AL himself -- was accompanied by something. Something very nasty indeed.

None other than Albert W. Wily popping up behind Lightstreak.

Technically speaking, he wasn't exactly behind him. He was a little ways off, near the slide -- as a matter of fact, from where I was, I could see the top of his mangy, spiky gray mane of hair. "My accomplice, Dr. Wily, would have aided me in stealing the Connector" -- here Lightstreak waved Yuuichiro's technology in the air, like the big shot he was -- "but I stopped him. Instead, I commanded him to help me in breaking into SciLabs."

A sharp intake of breath cut through the onlookers in reply to this statement. "You -- wouldn't -- dare." Yuuichiro's fellow scientist, Piero Corradi, gritted his teeth, looking savage. "This is Dr. Hikari's technology. It's the link between two worlds -- you try to mess it up and the fate of Navis and humans, instead of being interlocked, will be messed up. Forever."

Lightstreak -- having heard the scientist -- gave a malicious wink. "That's what we want, no?" he retorted innocently. "Anyway, we opened up the CPU of this thing, copied down the data signature, and then went back to our headquarters, where Dr. Wily here" -- an unnecessary gesture to the evil one -- "successfully rewrote the tech onto a blank disk." He paused thoughtfully, considering. "And then, of course, we used it on Mega Man." Another unnecessary gesture. "Ain't that right, _Jack Miller_?"

Mega's fists clenched involuntarily, but he said nothing in spite of the fact that his eyes were glowing like radioactive coals. Taking that as a clue, Lightstreak cleared his throat noisily and went on, "As for Proto Man here" -- man, did the guy ever use that word a lot! He also tended to do unncessary gestures, such as patting Proto Man's red chestplate armour, like now -- "Well, he and Chaud are imposters. The --"

Here Wily spoke up for the first time. Actually, he didn't speak up right away; he took some time in conking Lightstreak with one large, blue-veined fist. "LIGHTSTREAK!" Wily barked, rapping the aforementioned one's shoulder. "Don't--"

Lightstreak swatted the old geezer's hand away, miffed with the senior bad guy. "As I was saying," he continued, raising his voice over the neverending din of Wily's thrashing fist, "When the dynamic duo tried to delete Mega Man, it was because they were imposters." He shrugged. "It was simple enough; the real ones are hiding in a cellar under Wily's headquarters near the western outskirts of DenTech."

It took a few seconds for all this to sink in Lan's brain; when it had, I glimpsed another flash of recognition dart across his face. "D---it!" he yelled finally, lunging in Lightstreak's direction. "You -- you crack addict! I mean, how dare you!" And with that, he was speeding past the bad guys as fast as his cracked orange roller skates would let him -- which was FAST, to say the least.

I almost let my eyes snap shut as Lan skated past the bad guys, an orange, brown, and white streak that cometed past the terrible twosome. I reeled back, thinking that the crazed crimefighter was going to attack them, but the next thing I knew – duh duh duh duh -- (Beethoven music playing) – he was gone, a blotch of colour on the horizon.

Once the all-too familiar young NetBattler had disappeared into the distance, I glimpsed Wily shaking his head and rolling his eyes at his "accomplice." (His master, more like.) Lightstreak, however, just shook his head and mocked his "supposed" partner by patting him babyishly on the shoulder. "That's enough, dear Wily."

"I--"

Wily's reply was cut off before having fully emerged from his throat – all because of the arrival of the crazy one. Grinning evilly and doing the peace sign, Lan appeared, cutting a swath in front of everyone – good guys and bad guys alike. He came among us all, dragging something in his wake; looking closer, I saw that it was not a thing but two people: Chaud Blaze and his Net Navigator, Proto Man.EXE. I blinked; that'd been fast, even for Lan.

"I'm ready." Lan dropped the pain-inducing burden of his worst-enemy-who's-a-good-guy and his Navi before rounding on the bad guys. Something chocolate-brown in the depths of his eyes hardened; now Lan Hikari, crimefighter and stupid guy extraordinaire, had a relatively tough expression on his face. Yeah, you read right. _Relatively._

Wily took one look at the kid and laughed out loud. Not in an evil, MUAHAHA-sort of way, but in the kind of way that just told you he doubted Lan, Mega, and everyone else assembled behind them. He didn't think they would win – which I knew was technically wrong. First of all, because TCF is who it is and would never let the bad guys win unless it wanted some sort of one-shot that would land it with lots of reviews. (rolls eyes again) "You?" OK, _now_ Wily was laughing evilly. "Why you couldn't even beat –"

"An old geezer like you?"

Within seconds, Wily had been knocked down by Lan the crazed NetBattler, terror on his face and in his eyes as he threw his arms up in a kind of shield for his old geezer body. Lan stared down the evil one, his face cast in shadow and making him look more dangerous and less insane than he ever had. I saw another spasm of terror flick through Wily's pupils, but – he was who he was; in no time, the mad scientist with the glass eye was back on his feet and ready for anything.

At this point, Lightstreak cleared his throat loudly – which caused everyone to look away from Wily and Lan and toward the _other_ evil one instead. "Thank you." Lightstreak tossed his head jauntily so that he looked demented in an animeish kind of way rather than sinister. "Now, I can go on without any interruptions." He paused, leering at us all, a sneer on his lips. "You see, the thing is" – and here a pause for a deep intake of breath – "There are Navis in the Real World. THERE ARE NETNAVIS IN THE REAL WORLD. And they're both good and bad. We also have the Net Ops here." When everyone looked at him blankly, he groaned, pained and smacking his forehead in exasperation. "OK. Look at it this way. There's good – and then there's bad. In other words – this means war."


	33. Smoke, Haze, and Tory Froid

A happy-looking Fanficcer was randomly seated on the pink squirrel slide smack-dab in the middle of the battlefield – that is to say, ACDC Park. It was humming a tiny tune to itself when it was approached by what appeared to be its muse – Pikasqueaks the Pikachu.

"Hey, buddy. You've got some stuff to say." He cocked his head and grinned at Fanficcer.

"Well, all right." TCF paused, thinking. "OK, so as for the POV – think fate. Think –"

Unsurprisingly enough, it was stopped by Pikasqueaks, who was urgently pulling on its arm. "You have to tell 'em, you know," he told Fanficcer, though he was still grinning.

"Well, all right." It gave a docile shrug. "It was the Dark Rush's POV. When he's not driving bad guys like Ganondorf, Voldemort and Bass (Bad Forte! Bad!) insane, he's actually fairly serious and all." It paused thoughtfully. "Was that it?"

"No!" Pikasqueaks' voice came out strained; he shook his head to clear himself, then tried again: "Lloyd. Remember?"

"Oh yeah!" TCF brightened. "Lloyd Irving from the excellent Gamecube and PS2 game Tales of Symphonia, people. Did I say it's excellent? Anyway, let's face it. He LOOKS like Lan, he ACTS like Lan, and he's DUMB like Lan. What more couldja want?"

It looked so excited. Jeez – _I never realised just how bad it is to be a muse._ Pikasqueaks rolled his eyes before pulling once more on Fanficcer's shoulder. "Also, a reviewer just called you crazy."

"So?" Its tone indicated that it didn't really care. "I'm a fanficcer. We usually are."

Instantly, several thousand random (and not real) fanfic-writers who aren't crazy were glaring angrily at it.

"O-kaaaay…." Weirded out, Fanficcer started to back away slowly. "Well, I am. As for the POV," it went on, lifting its head up and turning to the readers, "Here we enter yet another unusual one. And I have to say, his mind is considerably…um…odd. Now, on with the fanfic!"

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"Why do I also miss this sort of thing?"

Those were the words that issued from my mouth as I sprinted onto the battlefield. At least, that's what I think it was; technically speaking, it was the park with the pink squirrel slide in the ACDC district. And me? Well, I, Hikawa Tohru -- I mean, Tory Froid -- was running. Running as fast as I could after having jumped down from the city bus, which had taken me from the SciLabs, all the way back to good old Densan -- uh, DenTech. And now, as I ran out, a resplendent turquoise-and-yellow dot among the splashes of colour, a million and one sentiments were running through my mind.

I charged, close to the ground and in my element; just as I skidded to a halt beside my Navi, Ice Man, I heard Ace Lightstreak say something about war. He grinned evilly; the next thing I knew, I – MINIBOOMER! DUCK, TORY, DUCK! The next thing I knew I was ducking wildly for the incoming of one of the blue-and-green bombs, which missed my chocolate-brown hair by mere inches and whizzed harmlessly past instead.

"Tory! T-Tory! A-Are...you all right?"

"I-I think so," I mumbled to Ice Man, ducking to avoid a blue boomerang-type BattleChip's projectile as it came winging our way. "W-what ...happened while I-I was gone?"

In reply, my chibi Inuit-type Navi slapped my shoulder with a cool, easygoing grin. "Tory, c-calm down!" he restrained and encouraged me at the same time, his mittened hand resting passively between my shoulder blades. "You've g-got nothing to worry...a-about."

I nodded, slightly cheered and understanding better in the presence of Ice Man. "OK, but what's happening?"

He looked back at me grimly and deeply, suddenly serious. "War." This answer may have composed of one word, but it told me all I needed to know; a quick glance confirmed my suspicions. Ace Lightstreak, a familiar bad buy with a wacky yellow hairstyle, was conferring quietly with the mad scientist Dr. Albert Wily. Also with them were Lightstreak's sleek silver Navi Comet Man and Wily's shady, mysterious Forte -- I mean, Bass.

"If I have to fight…" My hand clenched tightly on my PET; I surveyed the horizon, acknowledging a deep, powerful force within me -- the force of justice and righteousness. And here I quote the awesome Tales of Symphonia: justice and love will always win! "Then I will – for...D-DenTech, for the world…f-for Navis, for humans…f-for the water plant." I closed my eyes and my knuckles whitened as I gripped the blue personal terminal harder, tipping my head downward with the action. "I c-can't let my...dad down."

"That's…th-the spirit!" Ice encouraged me, a mischievous yet don't-come-near-me gleam in his eyes. "Let's do this thing."

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"N-need…a break…"

Coughing, I covered my head with my fists as I sprinted through the smoke. The air was sizzling with the stuff; the debris and detritus of MiniBoomers, CyberSword slashes, TimeBombs, Quakes, and some of what Comet Man called meteorites. In all reality, they resembled the said cosmic waste – hard, round, and packed a punch, all filled with explosives and gilded with a soft, delicate sheen of silver. It was because of these things that we were all stuttering and wheezing. I wove in between the masses of NetBattlers and Navis – official, normal, standard, custom – both hands on my PET, eyes to the ground, to my friends. Ice Man trailed along in my wake; I could hear his footsteps pounding the burnt and smouldered grass behind me.

"Almost there… T-Tory!" Ice cried out, to give me determination and courage. I suppose it went for him through – the hour and a half of battling had been gruelling, to say the least. "W-we can do it!"

"T-thanks, Ice… Man." My breathing was ragged; I panted along steadily, feeling his short body brush against my rib cage as we ran together, past the line of fire. "I-" My breath was cut from my throat – AAAAH! EVIL SWORD-WIELDING NETNAVI! MUST AVOID HIM! I dived between the standard's legs, quickly followed by Ice.

"Tory!" His voice came to my ears strained and resisting; I felt a pang of horror slap my heart as I whipped my head around. The sword-wielding Navi had caught Ice Man in a headlock, sword flung high above his shoulders. With another fresh bout of terror, I realised that his sword – which had begun to glow as brightly as a star at midnight – was about to slash downward, killing, deleting, _destroying_ my poor NetNavi –

"N-no!… Y-you can't!"

With this cry, I dove down, smack-dab in between the two duellers, pushing out my hands as I did so. Ice was knocked to the side; the standard Navi went flying. I watched as his wildly flailing form fell to the ground about ten metres away from us, rolling uselessly on the green grass. My head quickly whipped around; after seeing that short spectacle, I had a Navi to attend to.

"Ice! A-are…you all… r-right?"

My coughing and stuttering got worse as I plunged forth through the gray haze of smoke and leftover rubbish from the BattleChip projectiles that had not once stopped flying through the air. Still, I ploughed onward; nothing mattered right now except saving my Navi. "I-Ice Man!" I cried again, hindered by a nearby salvo of AirShot bullets that peppered my legs and made me stumble, but never stopping in my rapid sprint to save my NetNavi.

"I-I think so." Panting, Ice Man stared hard at the ground. As I came near, he flung one hand out. "D-don't come near, Tory. I th-think...I-I found something."

"What… i-is it?" I managed to blurt out as a thick whiff of fireball smoke crept up my nostrils; at the last moment, I remembered to put my head down. "I s-stopped… now."

"I-I… don't know," Ice Man replied finally, springing onto his feet and ushering me away from the thing. I resisted slightly, wanting to get past without hurting him.

"Tory…" He shook his head, downcast. "D-don't… get past me… You c-can't… I don't know w-what it is."

"I-I won't… get past you. D-don't worry, Ice." I gave a small, sad smile as I patted him on the back. "I-I can… see it from here."

That said, I planted myself more firmly into the sweat-covered, thinly bloodied grass and strained my eyes to the thing that lay, innocently in the distance. I threw up one arm over my face as a shield when another cloud of smoke floated near, blocking my nasal airways until it passed. I bent my head down further, shielding my brow as I scrutinised the innocent – if a little large – dark blue object lying in the grass.

"H-hey! It's a… PET!" Surprised, I turned to Ice Man, who – to my shock, was slapping his mittens together, a crafty grin on his face. "S-should I… go get it?"

"I'll d-do… that, little Tory." Here he gave me a gigantic grin, which was stopped by a fresh bout of smoke-induced coughing. When he resurfaced, he grinned more hugely and the next thing I knew – he had disappeared.

I watched Ice's figure bounding and cartwheeling through the smoky haze; darting forward, disappearing, visible above the smoke, then flipping smoothly back down in front of the lost – or maybe abandoned – PET. In short, he was jumping like a fly – in the space of approximately three point five seconds on my black sports watch, Ice had returned to me, armed with the thing.

"C-confusing… It's one of th-the weirdest… PETs I've ever s-seen," Ice Man concluded, his shoulders rising and falling slightly as he struggled to breathe through the ashen smoke that filled the park. "Y-yours is… light blue, Ch-Chaud's is red… This one's d-dark blue."

"Hm…" I rubbed one hand over the PET's crest – oddly enough, it was like none I had ever seen before. As a matter of fact, the only normal thing about it was the yellow-orange ring that encircled it; the actual crest composed of a single silver star, splashed on a velvet-blue background delicately spangled with small multicoloured specks.

"W-weird." Ice examined the PET some more, and, with one smooth motion, nicked it from me. I suppose shock must have been registering on my face at that point, because he grinned evilly and tossed it once through the air, catching it in another smooth motion.

"I'll k-keep this where… it'll be safe." Seeing the worried expression on my face, Ice smiled reassuringly and patted me on my shoulder. "C-come on… You got th-this new BattleChip, right?"

I was confused. What did he mean – AAAAH! BIG GIANT FIREBALL-THING COMING MY WAY! MUST EVADE IT! I flattened wildly against the ground, a small green-and-yellow blot on the line of grass. I felt the fireball brush against my hair, singeing my bangs slightly as it passed. Relieved, I popped back up, puzzling about what Ice Man had meant.

"W-what… BattleChip? Oh!" Suddenly I remembered. "You… m-mean SkateScooter?"

"Esruoc f-fo, baby." Another humongous grin curled Ice's face as he threw a small white ball to the ground – the thing that apparently brought Chip projectiles into the Real World, like now. In this case, it was a kind of smooth, glowing skateboard thing; Ice Man hopped onto it and gestured.

And me? Grinning for once, I followed him.

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"Chaud, a-are… you all right? Oh, m-man, Chaud… Why won't y-you… answer me?"

Meiru's – I mean, Maylu's pink-clad Navi was unusually agitated as she bent over the forms of Enzan and Blues...uh, Chaud and Proto Man when the SkateScooter cut its way through the smoke to where the others were. Roll kept muttering to herself as she tended to the Operator and his Navi; even as we approached, she cried out exasperatedly. "P-Proto… Can you… hear me?" Nothing. Roll bit her lower lip until it bled and once more whipped her yellow healing antennae over the dynamic duo.

"Any… l-luck?" Maylu called desperately to her Navi; Roll shook her head, her vibrant green eyes full of tears. "Keep… on t-trying," she encouraged from her vantage point among the haze before turning to us. "Are.. y-you two all right? Y-you… look horrible."

"I think… s-so," I replied, picking up the SkateScooter easily under one arm. To my surprise, it disappeared in my grip as we made our way over to my friend.

But Ice apparently had other things on his mind. "W-we…do?" he asked Maylu, his expression confused.

"Y-yeah…" Her reply was duosyllabic owing to the smoke; even as we came closer I suddenly noticed her paper-white face covered with pale-red marks, dishevelled magenta hair, loose pink hair pin and torn, ripped clothes. "Your faces…a-are covered in b-blood."

I nodded numbly back, pressing one hand to my face. When I gently pulled my palm off, I noticed that she had been right – it was covered with a wet, sticky substance. "W-we…didn't realise."

"G-guys! Have… any of you seen Lan and Glide? We… f-found Mega and Yai, but…" Dekao's – sorry, Dex's, voice trailed off as he came charging through the smoke toward us, trailed by a nervous yet feverish-looking Yai Ayano – to say the least, looking as if she had been using her big brain to help save the world – and Rockm-- Mega Man.EXE. Mega, on his hand, was pale but tough-looking; unlike any of us gathered there and conscious, he was a NetBattling Navi and always would be. Suffice to say his armour and tightsuit were scored with blast marks and his face had gained an unhealthy-looking whitish hue, but he looked dangerous. Very dangerous. As in an I'm-a-good-guy-I'm-trying-to-save-the-world-I'm-serious-in-saying-I'm-about-to-delete-you-into-oblivion kind of way. Well, you get the picture.

"I'm… n-not sure Guts is with h-him, though," Mega Man said now, pushing Yaito – sorry, scratch that last syllable -- away from him as what appeared to be a giant airplane soared over us, smoking at the rounded nose and windows. Too soon had it aimed some sort of harpoon-shaped torpedo-like shot toward us; Mega whirled on his heel and blasted the thing by means of his Mega Buster. "I-I guess I'd… better g-go find them."

"No, M-Mega, don't!" Roll looked up from Chaud and Proto Man, the former of which having awoken and having heaved himself onto his feet. There was fear in her vivid green eyes this time, as well as a thick flush that was quickly spreading up her cheeks. "L-Lan…"

She let off abruptly, casting her gaze downward, onto Proto. "N-no, it's…okay," she mumbled under her breath. "H-he's your…twin. I-I…understand."

OK, now _that _was cryptic. Mega Man was a NetNavi. Netto – uh, I mean, Lan -- was a human being. How in the world was that even _remotely_ possible?

I should have used my wonderful brain here, but I didn't. (rolls eyes) Now because of that, I wouldn't find out what the pink Navi had meant until I would be sixteen, in a Rockman.exe fanfic called 'Fiddling with Destiny.' Go figure.

Anyway, I noticed the blush on Roll's cheeks and was strangely reminded of Yai, who was tinkering with something next to me. I felt, I knew, the same way about Yai as Roll felt about Mega Man – the word was love.

"W-well… If you're s-sure, then, Roll…"

Within seconds, he had disappeared out of our line of sight, though he was soon replaced by two none-too-familiar figures -- a tousle-haired Lan Hikari dragging a briefly unconscious Glide.EXE in his wake.

"L-Lan, a-are… you all r-right?" I asked, rushing over when he collapsed a few inches away from Maylu, his golden burden falling harmlessly to the ground. "Y-you look bad."

"I-I do?"

"L-Lan, Lan, Lan. I'm… tutting for you, dear H-Hikari Netto." Maylu cocked her head mischievously to the side as she rummaged her pockets for a handheld mirror, which she then proceeded to toss to the said fellow crimefighting NetBattler.

She was right, too. Lan, of being of a darker skin colour than his Navi, didn't look half as pale as Mega Man did, but his face still had this kind of blanched, sickened look. A thin trickle of blood was slowly coursing down from under his sweat-drenched headband, which was hanging, lopsided, from his forehead. But, like Mega -- and the rest of us, I suppose -- he had that look that just screamed at you that he was -- well, is -- a good guy and was about to save the world.

"Eh heh., e-eh heh..." Lan grinned crazily and held up the peace sign after throwing the mirror back to his magenta-haired friend/crush (**A/N: All right, I _had_ to do that... Boo yah! XD**)

"Anyway, I'd… b-better be going."

"L-Lan, no!" Maylu shouted, but he was already off and running.

"I-I'd better…be off, too."

"Ch-Chaud!" protested Roll when the white-haired Net Op sprang to his feet, soon followed by the newly awoken Proto Man. "Y-You guys've…j-just woken up!"

"We have t-to…do what w-we have to do. Y-you'd be better...o-off trying not to...s-stop us, R-Roll. W-we're...Official NetBattlers. W-we are who...we are, and that c-can never change." Proto looked down at us all as he rose with his master.

Roll nodded gravely. "I u-understand," she said in an undertone as both Chaud and Proto Man whipped out of sight.

Glide, meanwhile, had rolled over from where Lan had carelessly dropped him and was now crawling his way over to us. "I-I'm..staying here with Miss Y-Yai…to help arm ourselves," he announced, now falling to the ground beside his genius Operator. Yai, who had a state-of-the-art Windows 2022 laptop balanced on her uplifted knees, nodded without looking up and extended a helping hand to her NetNavi.

"W-wise…decision, Glide," she agreed, herblurred fingers never ceasing typing. "W-what… about y-you, Tory?"

"W-what… do you mean?" I asked through the thick haze of smoke, not entirely getting it.

"W-well, are you…and Ice Man going to f-fight, or…are you t-two going t-to stay and h-help the wounded?" Maylu asked as she bent down with Roll, running one smooth, pale hand down his golden armour.

"I-I--" This time I stuttered not because of the smoke, but because of hesitation. Ice, I was sure, would want to go fight with the others, but I wasn't sure about myself. It wasn't that I thought I couldn't fight; as a matter of fact, I had already proved good at avoiding any Chip projectiles that might come my way. As it was, I didn't exactly knew the others were doing, though I did know it had to do with arming humans with live BattleChips – a thing that I was good at. Still, though I was confused; at a loss, I turned to Ice for guidance.

" I-I can't…decide for y-you, Tory," he answered me with a somewhat hapless shrug when my dark eyes alighted on his swirly pink cheeks. Gritting his teeth, he held up two mittened fists. "If I-I was…you, though, I'd f-fight."

Next, I turned to Maylu and Yai. Maylu had this kind of tough yet somewhat wistful look in her brown eyes that said 'do what your heart tells you and help us save the world,' while Yai replied in an undertone, "I'd s-stock Chips..if I w-were you, Tory."

"I agree with Miss Yai." Glide got clumsily to his feet, straightening his golden helmet with one gloved hand (Amazingly enough, Mega Man was the only Navi who had come into the Real World with human clothes. Now that I think about it… how did that happen? Augh! (anguished groan) Stupid Fanficcer and its plot holes!). "I'm n-not saying you shouldn't...f-fight if you w-want to, Tory...b-but I think we already h-have...e-enough people o-out there." He gave a remorseful, lightly chastising look to the smoke that surrounded us; through the thick wafts of stuffy gray substance we actually saw Guts Man GutsPunching everyone in sight alongside the blue bomber. "So...that's w-where he went," Glide muttered, apparently to himself as he cleverly ducked Guts' overlarge golden fist as it came hurtling his way through the haze.

"I-I think…I'll a-agree with Yai," I said quietly. "I want to s-stock BattleChips… Not that I-I'd be a bad N-NetBattler or anything…but it's w-what I'm better at..."

Ice Man dipped his head. "A-all…right then. I-I'm not mad. J-just…don't forget to s-stock me some BattleChip….p-projectiles, Tory." And then, with a faint, pained smile, he had disappeared into the mist – I mean, smoke.

"You know h-how…t-to stock BattleChips, r-right?" Yai asked me; when I nodded, she went on. "G-great… Before – y-you guys d-didn't know…it b-but that s-special computer…y-you were using was c-configured…so that th-the humans c-can use…Chips t-too."

It was a lot for her to say. One thing was for sure: all that smoke definitely didn't help with her breathing. I tentatively patted her back as she attempted to take a great gulp of smoke-ridden air; reassured she winked deviously at me and slid her laptop over to me.

"S-so I'll be…h-helping humans, too. N-not just…Navis," I surmised, staring hard at the portable which was now lying innocently between my clenched fists, stuck steadfastly into the ground like two sturdy telephone poles. "Th-thanks, Yai… What about y-you?"

"Gl-Glide already has…one pr-programmed…into h-his system. H-he can t-take…it out if h-he…needs to." On that note, Yai gave a small smile and turned to her NetNavi, who – as it turned out – had already removed one of his golden shoulder guards and was tweaking around with it to prepare Yai for BattleChip stocking.

"T-then I'll…do it," I finished with a great shuddering sigh. I could feel the flush creeping up my cheeks as I nodded at my friends: Maylu, Yai, and Glyde. "I-I'll…help save the w-world."

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**A/N: So, did you like poor Tory's strange tendency to mix up the Japanese names with the English ones? Or how about his other estranged habit to run away mentally screaming from oncoming BattleChip projectiles? OK, OK, I know – I'm being crazy. But I actually liked writing in his POV; according to me, he uses a lot of semicolons, while the Dark Rush relies mostly on dashes. I know, I know – I'm weird, too. Anyway… Froid means cold in French. See y'all!  
**


	34. A Flip of the POV

**Lots and lots of POV-switching. Guess whose?**

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**

"That's enough, Wily."

My not-so-trusty – though I had to admit, he was _dead_ useful – assistant and helper nodded; fanning away the smoke with my left hand, I watched him leave…before whipping around on my heel, that is, to face Chaud Eugene (Battle Network fans, reawaken!) Blaze. The _real_ Blaze, so to speak.

"You." Blaze's dark blue eyes narrowed under his curtain of dyed-white hair. "I've got a question for you, _buddy_." He almost spat the last word out in contempt; I, however, was unbothered; pressed one hand to my forehead in a mock imitation of the youngest Official NetBattler alive.

"Ooh, scary," I intimidated the kid, whose dark yet clear eyes narrowed even more as he glowered at me. "Like I'm gonna be scared of some nine year-old."

"Twelve, actually." Proto Man's voice was ice-cold as he crept up behind Blaze; his own eyes were hidden behind his dark shades, but I knew perfectly well that he contained a glacial fury that the Hikari kid could never have – or be able to successfully hide, if he ever did… But wait -- _he did_ i_t before, back when he called me a crack addict and then corrected himself. _Even now, it's still strange… (strokes chin stubble thoughtfully)

Anyway, at this point I raised one eyebrow, wondering if the two of 'em would fall into my trap. They didn't. Instead, Net Op and Navi exchanged a glance, then resumed glaring coldly in my direction. "What were the names of the impostors, convict?" **(A/N: More Artemis Fowl references. Root, I'm speaking to you from the other side of the grave... Mulch deserves to be called by his actual name, you know. XD)**

Proto Man nodded alongside Blaze; I could almost see that icy, churning, flickering fire in his eyes reflected onto the shades. "The Operator and his NetNavi. Those two who – who" – here he shuddered, his voice shaking slightly – "who took our places."

"Well.." I hesitated on the spot, whistling softly. The two of them stared at me with cold eyes, hidden by white hair and sunglasses; at this point I was incredibly glad that the smoke had fled the area, owing to the machine the Official NetBattlers had brought with them. With no smoke around here, I wouldn't have had much cover if I tried to hide, but hey! It was definitely better than nothin', baby.

"Do you really wanna know?" I asked 'em, skilfully cocking my head to the side. At this point, Blaze and Proto Man exchanged a look; with renewed determination and defiance resplendent on their faces, they both turned back to me.

"There was no point in asking, convict," Blaze finally snapped. "Show us."

"All right, but if it were me…" – here I brought downcast, resigned eyes up to the two of them – "If it were me, I'd at least try _fighting _the convict." With that, I reached for a silver whistle that was hidden under the collar of my cameo palm tree-ridden T-shirt from Jawaii; I blew it before waiting expectantly for the young criminals – both under _my_ command, I have to say – who had impersonated this pair to appear at my side.

"Ryozo Jonouchi and his Net Navigator, Juggler Man.EXE." I gestured majestically to the kid and his Navi who had appeared at my side.

Jonouchi was a short kid – shorter than the real Blaze, I knew – with a thick mop of unruly black hair. He looked like a skunk owing to the white stripes still left in his mane from the hair dye. Juggler Man was a barrel-like yellow-armoured Navi with scarlet and emerald stripes streaking across his chest and overlarge fist pieces – which, I had always thought, made him look like Ogreon's Navi Guts Man.

"Jonouchi-san?" An almost-evil glint in his eyes, Blaze gave a tight smile and turned to the said imposter. Next to him, Juggler Man was doing exactly what his namesake suggested: the red, blue, and green balls arced, bright and picturesque, through the air, twisting in swirling circles before finally cutting air down toward us. "I must tell you –"

"—we'll be sure to pay you back," finished Proto Man with a nigh-identical small, tight smile. "It's what you two deserve for working with _him_, after all." The italicised word that indicated myself was accented with one thick red glove extended in my direction.

"You deserve it, too," Blaze smiled at me; I whipped on my heel to face Jonouchi and Juggler Man but, the next thing I knew, the two of them had disappeared.

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"Are you all right?"

"I think so," I answered the pink humanized Navi after some thought. My tongue felt thick and heavy in my mouth; to assure Roll, I, concerned, consolingly patted her shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're safe." With a slightly pained smile (and slightly pink cheeks), Roll gently patted my own shoulder before bending down a little and extending one yellow antenna. The ribbon-like data seeker snaked forth, passing smoothly over my scored and damaged armour and tightsuit, healing me, curing me, renewing me.

"Likewise, Roll." I smiled at her; for a second, I saw something like sadness flicker in her green eyes – which were the exact same shade as my own. The next thing I knew, I was being tightly caught in a hug. She'd wrapped her arms around me and now appeared to be embracing me with all her mind, body, heart, and soul. (I suddenly understood why Roll's attacks always involve hearts and other love-related things. Blushie...) I twisted artfully away, reaching out one hand to grab her by the arm, but she was gone.

"Poor Roll…" Cursing under my breath, I swung on one heel and turned to face – that's right – you got it, buster – none other than Chaud and Proto Man themselves.

"We've caught 'em," Chaud told me, a glint I'd never seen before in his eye. It was strange for him to have such a triumphant and victorious look as that one. Usually, the white-haired preteen was cool, calm, collected, and casual, keeping mostly to himself and not overly talking – unlike my own former Net Op – and occasionally smug. That's not to say that he wasn't all that right now, but with all that hair, it was hard to even see his eyes, never mind a valiant glint hidden in their swirling midnight depths.

"The impostors," Proto now chimed in upon seeing the shock register on my face. "Their actual names are Ryozo Jonouchi and-Juggler Man, Master Chaud and I soon found out."

"I have to fight with you guys." I bit my lip as a smooth blue-green weapon that fused with my arm indicated that my Operator was nearby and helping; within seconds, I was armed with a very nifty-looking CyberSword. "We'd better get to it."

Chaud nodded, his expression grim and grave. He stared at me long and hard for a second, then suddenly whirled around, to where we'd left Maylu and the others. "Chip stock!" Lan's rival cried to our allies, holding up his arm.

Within seconds the Net Op's own arm had rematerialised in sword form; he briefly thanked Tory, turned around again and nodded once more to the two of us. "OK…" He trailed off, staring deep at me (and into me, it seemed) and – if I'm not mistaken – even Proto Man. "Let's do this thing!"

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"Can't…hold…on…much…longer!"

Those were the words that came from my mouth as I swayed on the blood-drenched ground of the ol' ACDC park – the enemies of us _good guys_ were attacking harder than ever, and I was having trouble avoiding all the missiles and stuff that came shooting my way.

"I'm gonna fall…"

And fall I did – or, as Maylu (Man, is that girl ever beautiful… MAYLU! (grabs her) Can I go on a date with you? Pretty please with cherries on top?) told me later, toppled to the ground with the greatest of unease. My moehawk scraped against the reddish grass as my legs gave way from under me and I fell tragically at Mega's feet.

"Are you all right?" Instantly, Mega Man hopped down and extended one arm toward me. Feeling grateful yet guilty, I grinned dementedly and used the proffered hand to lever myself back up again.

"I think so." I ducked – cleverly, if I do say so myself (You reading this, Maylu?) to avoid a MiniBoomer-thingy (Actually, they called them BattleChip proji – projo – pro something...) that was coming my way. I felt the blast explode around my spiked brown hair – because of that, I winced as I reached one hand over to feel the blow it had scored on my 'do.

"Need to attack somebody somehow…" As I regained by position on the grass – that is to say, my blue Nikes – I reached out randomly, only to fall back down all over again. No thanks to that hard-hitting MiniBoomer-thing that was now soaring back to its master…

On the ground, I wiggled my now-blackened running shoes as I groaned, feeling the blasts of Chip-thingies from all around. _Sheesh – why does this always happen to me for?_

I wriggled around helplessly in the grass, stared down by the blue bomber himself. Mega had smartly evaded all the shots and thingies that'd been coming his way. This is rude, but I'm pretty sure this is what he said upon watching me flail and thrash haplessly among the ruby-streaked grass: "Man, you really _are_ stupid."


	35. The View Changes

**A/N: Here we go with the demented POV's again... OK, so they're not demented. Anyway -- onward, fanficcers!**

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"Up."

"Thanks, Miyu." I grinned, almost slyly, as my fortune-teller friend helped me to my feet. There's nothing like a good friend to save you in the heat of battle, is there? With a small smile to Miyu, I dropped to my knees and swivelled around to the base where the BattleChips were being stocked for us, both humans and Navis.

Sliding the gray diskette-like things into the slots on the PETs didn't always work anymore; indeed, it sometimes seemed as if stocking by means of computers and hard drives was the only way. Ten year-old Yai Ayano had discovered it – I don't actually know how, but she had. I swear, one day that girl is going to be the second smartest person alive – after Dr. Hikari, of course.

Anyway, I called for BattleChip stocking and got my wish; within seconds, both my hands were envelopped in identical masses of sequoia-coloured grass-type Busters, like Wood Man has when I tell him to go 'double or nothin,' Woody baby.' It's a new power-up he obtained after a nasty clash with World Three. Cool, eh?

Anyway, these Busters helped me briefly shoot through the ranks of both Navis and humans alike; when they had finally disappeared from my arms, I stealthily shot a thumbs-up sign to the Chip stockers before resuming a fresh drive on the bad guys with the aid of my Net Navigator. Wood Man and I worked together with Miyu, her Navi Skull Man, crazy fish-man Maysa and his own Shark Man. Together we formed a kind of human swarm that banded together to once more attack the baddies in separate droves.

I gave a stifled cry as I darted quickly across the healing area; a blue AirShot bullet was cutting through the smoke, heading right for me!

I quickly avoided the oncoming missile and skilfully wove through the masses of smoke and beings that bordered the healing area. I dropped to my knees as yet another BattleChip projectile came blasting my way – it was, oddly enough, another AirShot, probably thrown my way by the same person as the last. Once the missile had finally soared over my head, I swiftly sprang to my feet and scurried over to join Maylu and Yai. The former was tending to a crumpled figure on the ground. As I came nearer, this mass proved to be none other than Lan himself, who appeared to have been KO'd by – from the looks of it – an incredibly heavy CyberSword blow. Actually, Wide Sword was more like it.

"Good thing you're here!" Maylu exclaimed loudly as I approached the trio. "I'm helping Lan right now, but it doesn't seem to be working."

"Did you ask Tory for a Chip stock?" I asked nervously, biting my lip as I came forward and squatted down next to them.

"He's not here," Lan, who was lying on the ground with his head dangerously close to Maylu's lap, answered for her. (Apparently he wasn't knocked out, only about halfway there.) "Maylu and Yai heard us fighting with Bass because fell from the sword he was using on me. When they came back with me, Tory was gone."

"He must've went to join Ice Man and the other fighters," Yai chimed in as I gritted my teeth and began one of my healing BattleChip manoeuvres on the semiconscious Operator. "Here, I can help you, Maylu."

As far as I knew she went to stock the BattleChips necessary to bring Lan back to his rollerbladed feet – well, not entirely, seeing as these orange things had been slashed right through and were now lying innocently beside Lan's mass of spiky hedgehog hair.

"Thanks so…much," the crazed crimefighter managed to choke out as I passed one healing arm over his blood-trickling forehead. Suddenly, he clamped one hand to the said spot, face clenched tight as though consumed by spasms of pain. "I think I can go fight now," he told Maylu when his pain-wracked body finally fell limp and he was free to turn to the red-purple-haired Net Op. "Don't worry about me."

"Lan!" cried Maylu as her – pardon me for saying this (giggling titter) – friend/crush jumped to his feet and swiftly began cutting his own way through the smoke with the CyberSword Yai had armed him with.

"He'll be all right," I grinned at Maylu, patting her shoulder as tears shimmered like melted chocolate in her brown eyes.

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"No stopping me," I grinned evilly as I threw off yet another of that Hikari kid's sword blows. They're pathetic, really: just two boys and two NetNavis, joined now in the same world because of the danger Wily, Lightstreak, Comet Man and I had inflicted upon the Real World and the Internet alike. I had to say though, if not stupid the Hikari boy was reckless; at the moment, he was just randomly striking out with the sword. I deflected each and every blow with smooth grace, flinging out one hand now and then to block what would have been a painful blow if it hadn't been for Hikari's poor ability with the sword.

_Why is he so feeble and weak, I wonder? His father invented Net Navigators and his grandfather invented personal terminals. He and Mega Man.EXE have been standing defiantly in World Three's pathway for almost a two years now, fighting us and saving the worlds. But now that _he_'s actually fighting alongside Mega Man, he seems kind of weak._

Those were my accurate thoughts on the battle as I relentlessly sent flames and flares flying to them from the tips of gloved fingers. My sand-coloured cloak whirled around my spinning form as I blocked blow after blow as if it was the easiest thing in the world. To get back on Hikari and co, though, I felt justified in saying Blaze was much better with the sword. His blows were more precise and well executed, smoothly coming toward me one second and jumping back in a fake move the next. He was balanced on his feet, too; now he was twisting artfully – next moment he had whirled completely and had seemingly rematerialised on my other side.

Proto Man and Mega Man were – suffice to say – as excellent fighters as good guy Net Navigators can get. I wasn't having much trouble, though; I may have been only one Net Navigator, but – if you must know – I've no Operator friend. I've no need. All you must know that it was this sort of fighting, this sort of fighting, destroying the younger and less experienced, that gave me a thrill of triumph and the pride of glory, that made me swell up with the cruelty of my artificial intelligence.

"This is for you, you crimefighter rascals." I pulled up short my CyberSword; the three other swords remained locked in its blade as their wielders looked up at me with dark, accusing eyes.

Hikari's whole jaw was trembling, his eyes boring deeply into mine. Blaze's own were nigh-invisible under the curtain of dyed-white hair that hung down low over their dark midnight blue, which shone through the whiteness, glowering at me. In a perfectly anime-ish moment Proto Man and Mega Man thrust me forward with their arms; I was pushed back by the glowing blades, though not by too much.

"Evil will always win." (**A/N: So not true, of course.**)

With that, my eyes glinted, darkly and evilly, as I sent yet another wave of evil their way.

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"Arf!"

I barked loudly as I came zipping through the shadows toward my mistress's friends.

They turned at the sound; as of the moment, they were being attacked to death by a dark, shady, evil-looking figure. The bombardment of black sonic booms wavered as the evil Navi and my mistress's friends looked up at my oncoming small figure.

"Arf!"

I barked again as I threw myself in between Roll's friends and the evil one. He looked down at me, his enormous peaked cap casting his whole face into deep, hidden shadow as he surveyed me with eyes that were just gleaming with dark evil.

"Do you think you can stop us, you Copyroid of miniscule intelligence?"

I roared at the dark Navi, baring every single one of my pointed canines as I did so. I saw another little flash of evil darken his eyes for about two seconds – angry at the evil one and his human (whoever that person happened to be), I let myself disappear.

"You're going to disappear, eh, little _doggy_?"

I heard the dark one's cruel, taunting words burn right through my ears and into my spirit. I ground my small teeth together as I suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

"Arf!"

And I showed my teeth for a split-second before driving them right through the evil Navi's shoulder. His face squenched tight with the pain of it all, he snapped his gloved fingers together – to no avail; I simply disappeared and rematerialised on his other side.

I felt a weird kind of thrill push through my small body with every blow I bestowed on the dark NaviFeelings, not thoughts, ran through my mind:

_Poor mistress' friends._

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
_

"Hey, Sal…"

My words died in my throat as the said woman crashed among the blood-stained grass under our feet. The bad guys had recently abandoned the force-fielded, smokeless, shielded area and us Official NetBattlers had claimed it as our own for the war. Technically speakin', I wasn't an Official NetBattler, but I'd been hired by Yai Ayano's parents as a chauffeur afta their old one needed ta accompany her father on his important business trips.

Either way, though, there's somethin' I should tell you…

My name's Chuck Adamson and I have this HUGE crush on the aforementioned green-haired woman. Eh heh, eh heh, eh heh… I don't think she knows I have one, but sometimes when she's talking to me, she blushes for no apparent reason… But I, like, totally know the real reason…

Anyway, as it was, when Sal's body gracefully – and yes, I _know_ I'm infatuated – fell to the floor, I immediately dropped to my knees and grabbed her left hand in one of my own sweaty ones.

"Sal, are you OK, gal? You, like, don't look so good," I told her, furiously bitin' my tongue as I helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, I think so," was Sal's answer as she came up on unsteady legs. "What about you, Chuck?"

"Trust me, I'm, like, totally fine," I assured her with an easygoing grin. Amazin'ly enough the blushes hadn't started comin' yet, but at that point I'd've bet anythin' that I was gonna be the first.

I winked at Sal; she smiled back as she went to join the ranks of Miyu, Skull Man, Wood Man, Maysa ("Take your calcium!") and Shark Man. That done, I whipped out my own PET – my NetNavi, Adrian, was hidin' somewhere in the Ayanos' mansion's network – and began sendin' short li'l e-mails to the other Official NetBattlers scattered around DenTech City. _It's the least I can do_, I figured – Navi and Net Op team Maylu Sakurai and Roll.EXE were busy tendin' to the wounded, which left Yai herself and her NetNavi Glide to stock the Chips.

"Yeah, Famous?" I pressed close to the speaker of my PET, my eyes flickin' quickly from side to side as I bent over the sky-blue terminal. "We're, like, totally needin' a hand over here. Contact your friends – Chuck Adamson needs help."

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**A/N: Ugh, one of the characters was being MAJORLY out of character with their thoughts -- guess who. Anyway, see you round!**


	36. Nearing the End

**I know you guys liked my little bout of POV-switching. Since chappie number 36, they were taken from Lightstreak (OUTTATHAWAY, EVIL OC!), Mega (Rock 'n'Roll! So cute and fluffy!), Dex (stupid bully of ancient times), Sal (Yes, I know it's weird), Roll (Nothing really going on there), Basss (who, like I said, was being MAJORLY out of character), Rush (Arf!), and some random hippie I created named Chuck. And he has a crush on Sal. Heh -- can you just _feel _the craziness?**

**And as for the strange request, I decline. But should I ever change my mind, you will know.**

**Now, on with the fanfic!**

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**Mega Man's POV**

"Well, bad guys extraordinaire, this is it."

I narrowed my eyes, the CyberSword still drawn as Lan, on my right, gritted his teeth and stared hard at the four evil ones who had caused the war: Lightstreak, Wily, Bass, and Comet Man. The latter hadn't really participated in the evil ranting, but he was perfect for battering down our defenses and trying to crush our hope down to nothingness.

"It's the end of the war."

On the other side of Lan, Chaud shook his mop of white hair over his eyes so that the only things visible from behind were twin navy blue glowing, penetrating beams.

"And now only one fight remains."

"It's all over, bad guys." Proto Man, his features hiding all impression under his shades and frostiness, had that dangerous look just in his eys even though – the one that just _told_ you he's a good guy. "Prepare yourselves."

"We're crimefighters." My head tipped downward and my visor throwing my face into shadowed relief, I extended my Buster hand, infused with the CyberSword. I gritted my own teeth as we faced the bad guys; next to us, Lan fidgeted slightly and pressed his own weapon toward the bad guys. "We never stop."

"We're good guys. We're always gonna win." Lan was about to jab the sword farther, but my hand restraining his wrists stopped the crazy one once and for all. I looked into his eyes; he looked into mine, questioning. _Let me start this thing, Lan,_ I thought, hoping he'd get the meaning from my expression. He did, judging by the flicker of understanding flashing through his eyes -- with a strangely mature, almost invisible nod, he pulled his hand away from mine and pivoted on his rollerskates. I readied my CyberSword, placing one hand on the hilt, which was fused into my gloved hand, and began firing up the blade from the enery deep within me.

"And now – we fight."

With a – sorry for this, good guys everywhere – cool, snappy judo throw, Lightstreak had grabbed Wily, who was now sprawling, wounded, on the red-tinged grass. Apparently the mad scientist's words didn't suit him too well. "No dice," Lightstreak told his "accomplice," but he said it with a gigantic, evil grin, "Leave the good guy-bustin' t'me."

"What in the world?" Wily muttered under his breath as he tried to get back to his feet. Lightstreak only tutted, wagging a naughty finger in the evil one's direction. "Why are you treating me like this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Yet another grin was produced. "Now here," – he gestured to us, "We have the good guys. And here" – man, I hate this guy and his stupid gestures! – "We have the battlefield."

His eyes gleamed. "This is war, _Albert._" That said, he pumped his hands up and down in the air – and I have to say, he _really_ looked like Lan at that point. "And mad scientists aren't in it."

Then all heck broke loose.


	37. Too Much Craziness

**The Dark Rush's POV – AGAIN! **What were you expecting, Lanny baby's?

And then we have the good guys, throwing off blow after blow after blow after blow. It wasn't long before the others joined them – now they were ten people, never mind if they were Navis or humans or whatever -- as far as I knew, they were fighting, just fighting, just fighting to save the world.

Occasionally Lan would do something that was _totally_ in character, like letting his – well, Terratasha calls it ego, while Fanficcer, Pikasqueaks and I call it "animeish idiocy" – taking control of him. Which, considering it's Lan we're talking about, wasn't so bad; mostly, this craziness involved cheering, jeering and leering in front of the bad guys. Suffice to say that he paid for his actions – the end result was a mass of orange, white, and brown on the grass. Ick.

Anyway, as I was saying, these ten were who they were – after a short while (five minutes and thirty-two seconds, to be exact), they ran out of energy. Lightstreak and Comet Man had long since stopped fighting – as we've seen, Wily wasn't even in the battle. Bass was the only one standing, and MAN! Was he ever doing a good job of it…

Wily's an evil scientist – unhappily enough, he's also a genius. Therefore, I conclude, he could also stock Chips for _his _Navi – and Wily had incredible genius-y powers. In short, Bass was armed with every sort of BattleChip arment that ever existed, as well as something that I call "supreme endurance." Yes, that's right: Bass and Wily were cheating.

So are good guys were getting tired… Now they were falling on the thinly bloodied grass… Now they weren't getting up… And now it was time for Official NetBattlers to come to the rescue!

The next thing I knew, I had been whisked off my perch on the slide – I would've done something, but TCF says I'm not supposed to interfere with this part of the story – and was being hauled down by Maysa himself.

"You! Take your calcium!" the crazed fishmonger cried (That's what he is, right?), stabbing one finger in my direction as he carried my small, dark body to Miyu's van, where a stretcher had been erected. I was safely deposited there; I rolled over and watched in amazement – and yes, people, I can get amazed – as the Famous arrived with Official NetBattler reinforcements to do their work.

Within seconds, they had swarmed in among the combatants – and in the space of approximately one and a half seconds Bass had been knocked down. They were all staring down at him with these totally animeish expressions. You know the look: mouth exposed to show white teeth, big oval eyes narrowed and glimmering with light spots, pale faces, quivering jaws, and all the rest . I have to say, TV _does _give you rather a lot of contact with animes, even if it's been ages since Fanficcer's last seen the particular said type of TV show of this particular series.

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Pikasqueaks: When was the last time you played at least ten minutes of the games?

Thecrazyfanficcer: A long, _long_ time ago. Why?

Pikasqueaks: (gets funny look on face) Um…

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Anyway, to get back to the craziness, Fanficcer's demented…

Within seconds, our heroes had risen with the officials and it was all over. "Bad guys?" Lan glared and stomped each and every one of them hard on the shoulder in turn. "Take that."

Bass winced. "It's over!" he cried dramatically (and uncharacteristically), throwing gloved hands into the air as he and Wily disappeared in puffs of sable-coloured smoke. With that action, Lightstreak hopped onto his feet , dragging Comet Man by the wrist up with him. There the big NetNavi winced at his Operator's touch; the wacky-haired weirdo, however, seemed not to have noticed. In fact…

"We're gonna win!" he cried valiantly, pumping his arms in yet another Lannish gesture while a disgruntled-looking Comet Man rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead with one gloved palm. "We're bad guys! We have to!

"Anyway," Lightstreak went on, back in his old self as he waved jauntily before grabbing Comet Man's arm in a tightly clenched grip, "this is the part where we go vamoose." To illustrate his point, he swiftly stretched one hand downward, toward his belt –

"Oh no you don't," cut in a voice out of the blue.

We all turned, including me from where I was splayed on the stretcher. Surprisingly enough, it was a most unexpected ally – and I mean _unexpected_. In other words: Guts Man.

And no, I'm not kidding – sure as anything, the yellow, red and gray NetNavi was standing right in front of the pitiable pair, where Lightstreak was trying -- in vain, I might add – to liberate a smoke bomb from the clutches of his gadget-ridden tool belt. "You can't do this, Lightstreak, guts," he went on, stepping forth, flanked by the others. By now, all ten of 'em were back in black and ready for anything, up on their feet and ready to resist to no one. "You can't win, guts."

"And I won't let you without a fight!" Maylu crossed her arms over her chest, Roll looming dangerously in the distance behind her. I know that sounds weird because Roll's mostly a healing Navi (and Rock's -- sorry, Mega's friend/crush), but, then again, she _did_ look distinctly sinister.

"Or me!" Ice Man.

"Or me!" Lan.

"Or me!" Glide, weirdly enough. Very OOC of you, TCF. (glares pointedly)

Anyway, within seconds this single, suddenly sinister group of kids had the fire of saving the world in their eyes and was determinedly joining the Official NetBattlers. I squinched my eyes shut tight, allowing the sounds that followed to blur in my ears as they did their thing.

Slashes followed slices followed cuts followed buzzes followed every other sound of the battle. It was like music to my black ears as I shut my eyes and allowed the sounds to fade into my mind, each one a silent echo on its own but all resonating, beating, clamouring together in a plight – the plight for freedom, the plight for goodness, and – most importantly – the plight for peace.

"Take that!"

"And this!"

"You're going down, bad guys!"

"Arf!"

So were the cries of everyone as they swarmed around the bad guys – knocking them to the ground, glaring hatefully and yet hurtfully, the light spots in their eyes shimmering like bright, crystalline ocean waves as the reigns of the evil ones ended. And they didn't just end like that – no, the reign of terror ended with a rain of terror. Sure as anything, a rain of BattleChip projectiles was bulleting to the ground like a million tiny, stabbing knives – a rain of terror, indeed.

From where I was positioned, I could see Bass' black-gloved fingers scrabbling uselessly at the blood-stained grass in a vain effort to get up – and trust me, was it ever vain. Within the space of two and a half seconds, he had been pinned down by a single, blue thing – Mega Man's foot. "No," Mega said simply, his clear, bright voice carried out by the wind and affecting us all in that sort of way that just tells you that good will rule the world (which it will). Then his face contorted strangely, his green eyes full of confused-ness as he turned to me. "Say what? Is it just me, or did you disappear with Wily a few minutes ago?"

"Ahem." I coughed politely into one paw as I strode over the grounds on all fours, walking calmly across the battlefield until I was joined by a single figure – the real Rush. Like I keep trying to stress on Pikasqueaks, Fanficcer, and everyone else (rolls eyes), I'm not a dark Rush, I'm a fatedog. Right, to get back to it –

"Is it just me, or that every time something strange and somehow related with plot holes, OOC-ness or some other mistake of TCF's comes up, everyone turns to me?" I asked, cocking my head cheekily to the side – much as Lan had done so long ago in the subway (and, yes, I _do_ know what's happened in the fanfic) – and put one hand on Rush's head.

The little dog barked happily with something of a doggy grin, his eyes quickly snapping shut as he reared further onto his hind legs and flashed the peace sign. "Arf!"

"Oh, brother." I placed one hand on my mouth and slit my eyes – wow, now I must've looked a lot like Plato or Aristotle when they'd been thinking – as I waited for Rush to finish his little bout of excited craziness. "Anyway, why does that always happen?"

Across from me, the one and only Lan Hikari grinned guiltily and dug the toe of one cracked orange roller skate into the ground. "Um – Dark Rush – Truth, Lies, and Pure Craziness hasn't happened yet, you know."

"I'm a fatedog, remember?" I gave a slightly mischievous grin as I righted my head. "No, seriously. It should've happened. I mean, it's set in Battle Network 1, no?"

Instantly, everyone began talking all at once and the next thing _they_ knew – and yes, not me, because Fanficcer tells me what's supposed to happen beforehand (and I'm a FATEDOG! HAH!) – was that they had forgotten about what they had been talking about a few seconds ago.

"Um… Is it just me, or have I forgotten about what we were talking about a few seconds ago?" Roll shook her head, trying to clear herself to no avail. "Why am I saying these things? I don't even know what OOC means."

OK, _now_ I was annoyed. I quickly swerved, rounding on TCF. "FANFICCER!"

With a small popping noise, TCF appeared – Pikasqueaks on its shoulder, as always – across from me, its legs folded Amerindian-style as it perched on the grass; suffice to say, it was now visible to everyone.

"Great. You're so annoying." Fanficcer smacked its forehead. "OK. On with what could be the last official chapter of this fic." (It isn't though, if you're wondering.)

"Official?" Lan questioned, raising his eyebrows. Yes, indeed, Hikari – now you're _really_ out of character.

"OK. This is it." With an exasperated, TCF turned to the said puzzled-looking crazed crimefighter. "Lan! As of now, you're partying!"


	38. Back in Lan's POV

The Dark Rush had an odd look on his face as he checked his reflection in a mirror. "Say, does my 'do look all right?" he queried.

Fanficcer looked at him, confused. "Yeah, why wouldn't it?"

The Dark Rush shrugged in reply. "Someone said I need a new one."

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**

**Lan's POV**

I grinned and pumped my fists into the air. "It's over," I crowed happily as I leaned back in the seat of Sal's van. "It's finally over." 

"All I can say is, everything's gonna turn out all right." Dex grinned and did the peace sign in a very me-ish gesture. "Say, Lan, later you wanna NetBattle?"

"Life isn't about NetBattling, you know," remarked Maylu with a laugh. He stopped and turned to her – and at this point, I knew what was going to happen. I mean, how could I not? It was_ so_ obvious...

"MEIRU-CHAN! Will you go on a date with me?"

Oh, great. He'd actually forgotten to use the English name instead of the Japanese one. But I guessed I shouldn't really have cared – after all, me and Meiru – uh, Maylu – start going out in Fiddling with Destiny. Only problem is, by then I'll almost be done highschool. Go figure. (rolls eyes)

"No, Dex, as you should perfectly well know." Maylu smiled happily. "I still like you as a friend, though."

"But…" Rely on Mega Man to bring his serious view of things into the picture. Here we were, after finishing what could have been our greatest and best adventure (But, of course, because of TCF's screwed timeline, we'd have the rest of BN3 to go through, followed by Axess, Stream, Beast, and Battle Networks 4-6. And Chip Challenge and Network Transmission and Phantom of Network. Hey, what did I just say?) ever, and here _he_ was, complaining as always. "But what'll happen to us? Will be humans, Navis, humanized Navis… What?"

"You guys shouldn't worry." Sal's voice floated to us from the driver's seat, where she was sitting with Yai's chauffeur Chuck and, next to him, Miyu and Maysa. "Dr. Hikari will know what to do. Not to mention, I wonder why Chaud fiddled with that weird PET before he gave it back to Jonouchi?"

"Yeah – I mean, I think dear ol' Jonouchi will suffer the consquences later on." Unsurprisingly enough, Chuck didn't sound the least bit worried, cool hippie-talking disco-lover that he was. Once, he'd told me he likes rollerblading. I feel like randomly sticking a flashback in here, but I'll make it easier for all of us and do this instead.

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Chuck: I love rollerskating! It's really awesome!

Me: FINALLY! A kindred spirit! Yay! (begins dancing randomly)

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Anyway...

"Also, we've got Yai on our side, haven't we?"

In reply Yai, happy as she was in that pic at the beginning of the BN3 Brady Games player's guide (OK… What did I just say?) grinned, winked, and held up the peace sign. "Yup," she agreed happily, "We've got me."

"You shouldn't worry, Mega Man." Roll gently patted him on the shoulder; as everyone noticed, their cheeks turned pink. "It's not good for you."

We were all there – me, Mega, Dex, Guts, Maylu, Roll, Yai, Glide, Tory, Ice Man, Sal, Maysa, Miyu, and Chuck. It was actually a really new van that she had gotten around the beginning of this whole adventure; the back seats alone could hold ten people in two rows. The front seats could hold another five, but all us kids – and even Glide, for some reason or other – had declined the offer and we were now comfortably sitting in the back.

"Roll's right, Mega," Tory said now, sighing contentedly as he leaned back further in his own seat. He was sitting with Yai – the two of them, as we'd all notice, were getting closer and closer together. But no actual kissing – in the words of the Dark Rush (even though I'll forget them in a few seconds), 'save all that for the other fics, both Mega Man and Rockman.exe ones.'

The Dark Rush: I'll take it from here, since Lan's about to forget in a moment. There we go – his eyes are glazed in drifting daydreaming, he's lost focus, and yet he looks completely idiotic insane. Take that, Lloyd (does a thumbs-up to Fanficcer). Anyway, even when TCF had told me about all the romance it plans to write into these fanfics – which I'd later told everyone about, of course – its eyes had gotten this kind of weird gleam in them. The next thing I'd known and it'd been running around like a insane fanperson, screaming random things like 'ROCKMAN.EXE!' and 'ToS!' and 'DIGIMON FANFIC I'M GONNA THINK UP IN THE FUTURE!'

Lan: (annoyed) Can we _please_ get back to fandom?

The Dark Rush: Oh, yes, of course. (grins evilly and yet sanely) Sorry, I forgot.

Lan: Thank you! (smacks forehead) Anyway…

Thecrazyfanficcer: (rolling eyes) Oh, and I usually don't run around yelling the last thing, though it's pretty much true for the others. Tales of Symphonia, everyone! (begins dancing randomly)

Lan: (grumbles) You and your stupid Butch Hartman-ish running gags. (rolls eyes) On with it already…

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"Yeah, I think by the end of this whole fic – I mean, this whole adventure," grinned easygoing Ice Man, "everyone'll be happy."

"Say, Sal?" I asked suddenly, lifting my bandanna'd head up from where I had been happily relaxing in the plush behind my head – all the whole trying to ignore my Navi – and looking at the green-haired Official NetBattler. "Speaking of which, where are you taking us?"

"Mm… You'll see, Lan, you'll see," Maysa answered for her as he tossed a random thing with a deft flip of white-gloved hands. "Eat your fish!"

"I thought it was 'take your calcium,' guts?" Guts Man asked curiously as he picked up the Styrofoam packet which –yes, I _am_ aware this next bit sounds corny – was holding a lump of gray fish.

"Actually, studies show that salmon is a high source of calcium," Yai replied brightly as he chucked the packet behind his head, where it landed smoothly in Glide's lap. "So, Commander Beef – ops, _Maysa _– could kill two birds with one stone by giving us salmon."

"Nah, I don't like fish that much," replied Maylu with a laugh as she settled herself more comfortably into the seat, coming a little nearer to me in the process.

"I d-don't… I…" The words were sucked out of my mouth as I caught sight of the red-violet-haired figure moving a little closer to me. "I d-don't like th-them either…" I mumbled finally, my cheeks reddening so badly that my headband actually felt hot. And bloody, now that you mention it.

"You amorous NetBattler," smirked Mega, his own cheeks normal-toned as he turned vibrant green eyes on me. "You like Maylu, and you're making it _way _too obvious."

"Yeah, Roll-lover," I muttered under my breath as the said redhead's (Hey, that rhymes!) eyes briefly snapped open; she giggled and closed them again in relaxation.

Mega Man promptly fell silent; as if to cover up the absence, Dex filled in the gaps with talk about NetBattling. His and Guts' conversation soon pulled me from my 'amorous' (Mega Man… (cutsie face) What's with all these weird words?) stupor and we were all soon involved in an engaging conversation.

"Someday, I get the impression that we'll change the fate of the world forever – not counting all this humanized-Navi stuff." Tory voiced his opinion, his cheek scruched in his hand as he surveyed the gradually diminishing DenTech scenery. Sal could have gone faster with her new van, but she wasn't -- that way, we could all talk together.

"We are some of the strongest NetBattlers in all NetNavi history," observed Glide as he toyed with something small and black affixed into his golden armour. "I have a device Miss Yai gave me that will aid us in stocking BattleChips in the Real World. I think we've already changed history."

"Yup," smiled Roll. "Can't deny that."

"What is it, though, Yai?" her Net Op now asked curiously as she turned to the genius of braided hair. "It's built into Glide's armour, isn't it? It won't work for humans."

She nodded back to a surprised Maylu. "I've taken some DNA samples from Mega Man. The way I see it, someday every Navi will be human enough so that it can work for both us and them – but they'll need some special armour to do it." She gave a broad, pleased smirk. "Which I've been working on with Dr. Hikari."

At this point I groaned, so loudly everyone looked at me. "What is it, Lanny baby?" asked Dex, picking up on Mega's line of character interaction as his moehawked head turned to face me.

"You're reminding me of my dad now," I moaned, putting my face in my hands. "_You_ may be the smartest person in the world, but I'm not." I groaned again, louder this time. "I've just realised… When I'm older, I'm gonna have_ such_ a reputation to live up to."

"You can leave that to Yai and the others, Lan," Roll told me brightly. "We can NetBattle." She paused thoughtfully. "Or heal each other."

We all found ourselves laughing as the familiar borders of the ACDC district appeared on the horizon.


	39. A Strange Form of Craziness

(sighs) Well, peeps, it's not over yet, but almost... (does salute) And when that happens, remember that you'll be seeing (insert random number here) fanfics by me in this category... And at the last chappie (two installements away) which actually an unofficial part of this fic, you'll find out what RYUUSEI NO ROCKMAN! is among random other things such as lists of fics and the introduction of two new muses. But until then...

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**Higsby's POV**

"Yay! You guys came!" I cheered as Sal's van pulled up smoothly in front of my Chip Shop. When the came out, everyone looked at me weirdly; I blushed and threw open the door to my humble store.

"OK, OK," I grumbled as everyone emerged from the van – and man, was that vehicle ever big! – and clustered around the shop's entrance. "I'm happy. I'm not normal. Put two and two together and this is what you get."

"It honestly doesn't bother us," Sal chirped as the thick knot of humans and Navis neared the open doors. "It's the same as always, you know."

"That's better, then," I said brightly as we all filed into the Chip Shop. "Come on – there's some stuff I have to show you guys."

We came into my humble shop, but I don't know exactly what happened next – as soon as we passed through the doors, my memory blacks out. (hangs head in shame, wilting like a flower with brown spikes and square glasses instead of petals) I'm a terrible author, I know.

Lan: Can I take it from here?

Higsby: (sighs) Yeah, I suppose so.

Lan: Great! 'Cause, ya know, I think I've gotten addicted to this narrating-thing.

Mega Man: (smacks forehead) Here we go again…

Anyway, now that I've gotten your attention with my superior sociable personality (Mega Man: Lan, cut that out!), I shall now attempt to describe what happened next. Ahem. (clears throat) Basically what happened is this – Higsby got this mad gleam in his shaded eye and proceeded to go crazy. Here we go…

"Chips! BattleChips! I must have more of them!" Higsby cried insanely, randomly reaching out and grabbing a nearby Number Man – like we've already said, ALL the NetNavis appeared in the Real World – and shaking him roughly by his green robotic body. "GOTTA GET 'EM ALL!"

Did I mention he sounded like a Pokémon character (Ash Ketchum, I'm staring you down…)? Anyway, as it was, the next thing we knew Higsby was muahaha-ing like your average, traditional, typical demented evil bad guy at the end of the game/show. Not that Bass does the wild evil-laughter thing… Or does he? Hm, I'm wondering now...

Anyway, to get back to it, I now toss the faithful ropes of fanficcing back to Higsby from where he's now rolling his eyes and smacking his forehead across from me. Speaking of which, don't ask me where we are – which leads me to think of TCF, Pikasqueaks, and the Dark Rush. I can remember Fanficcer and its muse, of course, but for some reason – OK, WHAT DID I JUST SAY?

Higsby: Thanks, Lan, but I get the impression we're not supposed to know more than we can already remember.

Lan: (puzzled) Yeah, I guess so…

Higsby: In that case, let _me_ narrate again.

---------------------------------------------------------------

When I came to, Maysa had stationed himself next to me and was rolling his eyes. "_Otaku_!" he muttered to me, proffering one gloved hand to help me up.

"Yeah – you like Mari, too, Maysa," I grunted as I rose to my feet, pulling Number Man along behind me, "but that's not the point. I have BattleChips to show you guys." I paused – even now I can still imagine my eyes glinting. "New ones."

"Really?" an intrigued Yai asked, cocking her head to the side.

I smirked, imagining Lan's reaction. "Yes. New ones."

"Chips!" cried said crazed crimefighter insanely, brown eyes gleaming.

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**Dr. Hikari's POV**

"Mm…"

My assistant Piero Corradi cupped his head thoughtfully in his hands. He's a lot younger than I am – he confided in me that he had been born in 1998 – and was currently musing about his career options.

Technically speaking, Piero was one of my friends, a scientist I'd met seven years ago, when my sons had been five. Back then, at seventeen, he'd been pretty much the same as he was now: hardworking, involved, loved what he did, courageous when those he knew were in danger, thought before he acted, and something of a dreamer. (I'd also heard talk of him and a woman named Elynor Daniels, though I'd never entirely understood it.) Now, a little older and more experienced, he was wondering if he and his NetNavi Petey should become two of the staff of the Grand Tournament, a local NetBattling tourney held at the Netopia Stadium every year.

"I'd also get more of a chance to work on my Navi data and DNA work," my friend went on, his voice gradually strengthening in excitement. "It'd be great for me _and_ the fate of Navis. I'd still get to come here occasionally, though, so I could see all you guys again sometime, Yuuichiro."

"I agree with you, Piero," I said after some thought. "Speaking of which, I really have to thank you for helping me with all the Interworld Connector business."

"You could have done it on your own," Piero complimented me graciously with a dip of his head. "I just sped up the process."

We both laughed at his remark; to my surprise, the same sound – though from different mouths – rebounded back to us from the other side of the lab door. I rose quickly, beckoning for Piero to follow me. "Come on, it must be them," I told him as he trailed faithfully behind, still with a dreamy, musing kind of look on his face.

Unsurprisingly enough, a pull of the doorknob revealed none other than my sons and their friends, humans and Navis, who I call the 'young NetBattlers.' Lan, as it appeared, had peeled off his customary blue headband and was rubbing the thinly bloodied brown spikes that would have normally been hidden underneath. I have to say, without that particular cloth piece of blue headgear Haruka made for him nine years ago, my son looked like a hedgehog, though I don't mean that in a bad way. (chuckles)

"We did it, Dad!" Lan crowed triumphantly as the thicket of beings – Lan, Mega Man, Maylu, Roll, Dex, Guts Man, Yai, Glide, Tory, Ice Man, Chuck, Sal, Mr. Higsby, Number Man, and Maysa – entered the room where all work concerning NetNavis and humans was carried out. "We beat the bad guys and got Mega and co. into the Real World!"

I nodded, becoming excited in spite of myself. "Based on what you guys have done since about maybe a week ago…"

I trailed off as Guts Man made a face, amazedly muttering something like "That's how long it was, guts?"

"Anyway," I went on a little more loudly so that the bulky Navi's vocal stupefaction was cut short, "after all this, I've finally made a way for Navis to coexist in both the Real World and the Cyberworld." I took a second to smile contentedly as shock showed itself on their faces. "With the use of Piero here's Interworld Connector technology, we can now live out some of our wildest dreams."

Piero came up behind me, a fiery gleam in his jaded marsh-turquoise eyes as he took up the narrative. "We've programmed all the data and Navi/Real World stuff into one small handy device." He reached deep into the pockets of his lab coat and pulled out a small device, shaped like a transparent blue-tinged bracelet. "With this, Navis can live in both worlds."

"And vice versa?" queried Maylu, her chocolate-brown eyes bright.

"Not until Fiddling with Destiny, _Meiru-chan_," Piero laughed as he ruffled her short magenta hair. "Can't you wait until you're seventeen?"

"And then we have The Adventures are Never Over to go through, but TCF has loads of empty Rockman.exe slots," mused Dex thoughtfully – strange for him. "But we'll have loads more NetBattles to um…battle through before then."

"Look, let's keep everything on time, okay?" I cut the conversation short with this statement as I backed up slowly, to where a stock of Interworld Connectors was being held in a storage safe. I rolled my eyes as I backed up; now that I was next to the safe, I skilfully undid the combination lock and let it open. "We can give them out now – though that I know that before six months have passed, we'll have to change the technology again owing to Yai's geniosity."

"That's not a word, Dr. Hikari, the said girl of golden hair quipped brightly, pulling out a small computing pad from a pocket hidden somewhere deep with in her red dress. (Fanficcer, I'm warning you… All these demented, senseless plotholes...) The computing pads were new on the market; much like palm pilots, they were currently nameless. Yai herself had helped create them – as she had said, 'They're better than palm pilots _or_ PETs because they can do anything a computer can on a portable scale. And someday they'll be able to hold Navis, too.'

"Yes, it is," Piero answered for me, his eyes snapping shut as a grin smoothly curled his features. "Yuuichiro here invented it; in a few days, it should be added to the computing pad's dictionary."

"I wonder when we name these things?" he pondered loudly, turning away from us. "Fanficcer?"

And so it appeared.

"In The Adventures are Never Over we have SchoolPads, but since TGT is the next Mega Man fic I plan to write, I could put 'em in there." TCF/Fanficcer – the author of this whole story, if you're confused – was a normal-sized figure completely tossed into shadow. For once it was not accompanied by its Pokémon muse, Pikasqueaks; instead, its luminous lime-green eyes looked glazed over in boredom and strangely hyper thoughts of 'ROCKMAN.EXE!' fanfic-writing. "That good?"

"Fair enough." Piero did the thumbs-up sign as Fanficcer disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I, however was shaking my head. "Rockman.exe's an anime – if you're going to fanfic it, you have to be careful, TCF," I muttered to myself.

"Right, so can we get the thingamajigs already?" Lan cut in suddenly, and I rolled my eyes.


	40. It's a Navi's World

Mega Man's POV 

"Mega? Could you stay behind, please?"

I turned around quickly to find Lan's dad dropping down into his swivel chair, staring intently at me. "Yeah, what is it, Dr. Hikari?"

His eyes closed as he shook his head, turning abruptly away from me. "Mega Man – you do know what you are, right?"

"Well, let's see…" I looked up thoughtfully at the ceiling as I ticked things off my fingers. "NetBattler, humanized Navi, twin brother to Lan Hikari…" I trailed off as realisation hit me plain in the gut. "Oh, I get it."

"See what I mean?" He shook his head, but this time he was smiling slightly. "You're my son, Hub…"

I grinned. "All right," I laughed as I strode from the doorway over to his side, "You asked for it, Dad."

The next thing we _both_ knew we were tightly hugging each other. I felt strange – like I was an outsider and didn't belong in this scene (And yes, I _as_ aware it was only the two of us in the room), but happy, pleased at the same time. Not excited, though – wildly excited was what I am when I'm still running through those fields and meadows just out of DenTech as I did on my fateful first morning spent in the Real World.

Right now it was different… It was more like a thrill of pleasure that spread and pressed down deep into my consciousness, a kind of quick yet incredibly joyous beat – yet somehow stifled; the situation was calling for seriousness and not insane craziness, after all – that wormed its way into my heart, my mind, my very soul. To get down to it – I felt a small, pleased kind of emotion beating from the depths of me and spreading into my whole my whole being. _So this is what having a real family is like_, I thought with a small smile.

Said Dad:

"I love you, Saito."

And softly murmured I:

"Same here, Papa…"

Within exactly three point seconds, we swore at the exact same time:

"Darn Fanficcer and its Rockman.exe fanperson-ism!"

"Well, here we are." Lan stretched, luxurious and catlike, as we faced the horizon. The ten of us – Net Ops and NetNavis – were perched on a gentle cliff that rose over the fields and meadows just out of DenTech City. "The end of one adventure, with loads more to come."

"All thanks to the Interworld Connectors" I acknowledged with a smile as I pressed the small, compact, blue-tinged bracelet wrapped snugly around my wrist.

"Actually, we have sixteen more as of now." Yai paused thoughtfully; at that moment, we all noticed just _how_ close she was to Tory. "One of 'em involving Mr. Froid and all his awesome football-playing."

"Hikawa-san, actually." Raising one eyebrow, Tory playfully pushed her aside (OOC-ness, TCF!) and stretched himself over the bright emerald-green grass. "In the words of this crazed author/authoress – 'It's Rockman.exe, not Mega Man.'"

We all laughed at that; I grinned suddenly and for no apparent reason. Here I was, in the Real World, surrounded by my twin bro and our eight best friends in the world, and I couldn't be happier. Oh, sure – we were crimefighters, one and all, but now was a time of rest and relaxation. 'A time to bask in the glory of our victory and letting others do our work for us,' as Lan had remarked earlier with a gigantic grin and a flash of the peace sign.

"Yeah, this is the life." Maylu, who was sitting near the slope's edge with Roll, smiled contentedly. "And soon every Navi will be able to live as Netsurfing humans. I could get _very_ used to this."

"Life's life. It is the way it is," Ice Man agreed, rubbing his swirly pink cheeks. "And, yeah, this _will_ be great for us Navis," he went on, relishing the thought. "We get to Netsurf."

"OK, OK, no showing off," laughed Maylu, "we won't be able to do that until a good way into – Wait, I just forgot what I was about to say." She shook her head with a faint smile, sending her magenta curls bouncing. "Anyway –"

"—don't show off," Roll finished with a grin as her pink-clad form whipped around so fast that her thick golden braid twirled, as did her ribbon-like antennae. "We may be Netsurfers, but what can I say? Your world is awesome."

"I don't know exactly what it means, but I'm guessing you guys still think we take stuff for granted, right?" Dex quested, swinging his legs over the edge of the cliff."

"Well, yeah," I said apologetically, feeling slightly embarrassed. "But never mind that… I've got an idea."

"Dad was right!" cheered Lan, practically jumping up and down on his orange roller blades (now repaired, though still covered with small scratch marks) as the five of us rematerialised once more in the Real World. "And you guys have human clothes, too!"

"Talk about a plot hole, guts." With a grin slightly strained because of a MiniBoomer blast gone straight to his jaw, Guts Man rubbed his big orange-yellow fists, one against the other. He paused, making a face. "Whatever those are."

"Well, you don't," I observed with a laugh as I laid one hand against the Navi's bulky red chest. "You, my friend, look the same as always."

"You guys're all humanized now, though," Yai said brightly, patting the computing pad stuck into that same hidden pocket of her red dress. "Glide… Should we tell him?" She moved a little, finger extended slightly in my direction.

"Tell me what?" _I don't get it – what would they have to tell me? I don't think I'm completely human or anything. _I puzzled about it, frowning a little.

"Of course, Miss Yai." Glide paused thoughtfully, probably thinking about what to say. "Mega Man – you know when that NetNavi Bass ambushed you?"

I nodded, wondering how word had gotten round. "Yeah – I didn't understand why I reappeared in the Real World after that."

"Well, the thing is, see," – and here Glide began nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other in a most _uncharacteristic _(hint hint, TCF)action – "you got deleted."

"Oh, so _that_'s why." I didn't mind Glide's words; they were the truth, after all, and now that the adventure was over I knew I'd have to be more careful; that thought in mind I looked up at my friends. "This probably sounds weird, but it doesn't bug me."

Roll stared hard at me for a few seconds before turning; her golden cascade of hair brushed gently against the necklace hidden under my collar. "That's the way it should be, Mega," she said softly, and I felt the caress of one pink glove against my chest.

"That's the way it should be, Mega."

I blushed, happy and embarrassed, before moving away from Roll and going to join the others. Even now, I get a sort of warm, soft feeling as the blood rushes to my cheeks. (blushie)

So then we were talking for some short while about how the world would be better for both Navis and humans. I occasionally joined in, always with a grin and a laugh; now that the world was saved, it seemed to me, I had nothing to fear. OK, so I probably would – in yet another fanfic… (smirks)

Anyway, it wasn't much of a surprise – especially for Lan – when Chaud and Proto Man. Unsurprisingly my Operator quickly scrambled to roller-skated feet and shakily offered one hand. "Chaud… Can we be allies now?"

In reply, the white-haired preteen raised one eyebrow. "I'm a good guy, first of all," he instructed, ignoring the proffered hand as he shook his bleached locks, turning away from the crazed crimefighter. "And secondly, we have to wait until Axess before you become a NetSavior."

Lan hung his head and grumbled unintelligibly before looking back up to his rival. "But this is Battle Network 3," he pointed out, "not the show."

"Oh, yeah – about that. TGT is the next Mega Man fanfic I'm planning to write, and that one's set during Axess." We all turned to see Fanficcer itself, perched on one corner of the slope with Pikasqueaks by its side. "So, until then…" It gave a hapless shrug. When we all stared at if it were insane – or, in TCF's case, _weren't _insane, because we all supposed it already was – but it only gave another shrug. "Hey, what do you want?" it muttered before disappearing with the muse.

"Well, it coulda been worse," I told Lan with a cheesy grin.

"Some people are so annoying…" grumbled Dex from behind us; he was kicking the sand next to the other three Net Ops, who were looking politely confused – habit, I guessed, judging by the look on Tory's face.

"Ah, well, what do you want?" was Ice Man's haze answer as he wriggled, small and serpentine, in the grass, unknowingly echoing Fanficcer's words of a minute past.

"Yeah, we're Navis, we're in the Real World, we're happy, and you humans take stuff for granted, guts," Guts Man grinned, holding up the peace sign. "Guts!" he added as a joyful afterthought.

"Lay off 'em, Dex," Tory tossed in from where swinging his legs over the edge of the cliff. He stared peacefully ahead, to where the thriving metropolis had been built almost twenty years ago. It looked more packed than ever – obviously because of the Navis now fortifying its ranks. "We do take things for granted, after all."

"After all—" Roll began –

"—it's a Navi's world," I finished.


	41. Simply an Epilogue

**Nobody's POV- huh? What did you say?**

"Basically what happened next is that Mega passed out, Wily went insane a little too early and jumped up, and-"

"You, for someone so powerful, Dark Rush, you'd expect to have less run-on sentences," Maylu cuts him off.

"I-uh-" The little fatedog's face freezes momentarily. "Well, you know... Anyway, we find out that Chaud and Proto Man are evil...yadda yadda yadda... Lan goes chasing Wily..."

"Yes, and you ought to know by now just _how_ embarrassing it is to save your worst enemy's life," Lan interrupted, his face red and a sweatdrop coursing down his cheek. "How in the world was I supposed to know that Chaud and Proto were really impostors and the real ones were hidden in a cellar under Wily's headquarters?" He pauses to glare. "Plus, my legs hurt now."

"That's a new one," Tory observes with a laugh. "You go chasing people all the time and it never hurts."

Lan mutters something unintelligible. By now, his face is scarlet and the sweat isn't really helping – his headband must be soaked.

"The rest isn't really important, so that's why this is an epilogue," Yai declares suddenly as she swivels around to face... What? Why can she see you readers staring back at me like that? Oh, it's like on Malcolm in the Middle. "So that's why we're all sitting around this table and sipping hot chocolate... Er, hot chocolate?" She lifts the cup in her left hand and stares down the film of brown stuff sloshing inside.

"Hot chocolate is perfect for this sort of thing," the Dark Rush replies sweetly, grinning from ear to floppy ear. "It's reckoning time."

"Too bad the Navis are out," Dex mopes, leaning back in the chair so that it nearly tips over. "Then we could...uh..."

"Discuss matters of little importance?" suggests the Dark Rush teasingly. "What else would we do?"

Dex shrugs and walks over to the window. They're sitting in the abandoned cafeteria of the DenTech City elementary school – yes, don't ask me why – and when he pulls up the small, rectangular-shaped pane of glass, he sees NetNavis playing around outside, still with their armour and tightsuits on. Five Navis stood out among the milling mass of people and Navis – Roll, Ice Man, Glide, Guts Man, and Mega Man. He watches as Mega throws a MiniBoomer (Where in the world do they come from if they're in the Real World?) to Guts, who deflects it with his bulky fist and sends it ricocheting back the window. In a few seconds, Dex turns back around, MiniBoomer in his mouth.

"That actually hurts, you know," he says angrily while the other five – DR included, of course – laugh at him.

"We're not laughing at you," the Dark Rush replies pleasantly in response to his extreme anger. "We're laughing at...um..."

Dex's face flames and he glares pointedly at the fatedog, who unconsciously scratches his ear with his hind leg while he tries to find an answer to the question. "Er..."

Suddenly, somebody appears in a burst of light. It's a mysterious figure; the figure bows, seats itself upon the edge of the cafeteria table and turns to face them all. It's really hard to say if it's female or male, on account that it's a hazy mass of dark shadows, with two glowing, beady eyes. Let's just call this mysterious figure an it, shall we?

"Hi! I'm Fanficcer!" it announces, in perfect tune with a small yellow...Pikachu? How is that possible in the Mega Man category?! Oh, wait, he's just my mascot... Now I'm narrating about myself. I guess it's my POV, then. Watch:

**Fanficcer's POV**

Doesn't that look cool? Anyway, to get back to the story, they all stared at Fanficcer like it was insane, except for Lan, of course.

"You're the author?" he wonders in a slow, deadpanned monotone. "You with the crazy Pokémon?"

"Yup, but you don't have to say anything. I'm just narrating."

"Ah..." Maylu, not really getting it, turns to the Dark Rush. "What happens to the Navis?" she asks, an actually intelligent question for once.

"Simple... They can't get deleted here, but they can in the Cyberworld. They can live in either place, and their lives are so much easier."

Fanficcer grinned and holds up the peace sign, followed by the Pikachu (who is Pikasqueaks, as you all know by now). "Rock on everybody, this is how I like it."

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Don't forget to review!!!

Pikasqueaks: Yeah!

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Fanficcer: So yeah, that was the original epilogue. I think it came right after the chapter where Yai taught Tory how to stock Chips. (grins reminiscently) I've got a lot of fanfics to write…

Pikasqueaks: Over (insert random number here), in fact.

Fanficcer: Give them the list, Pika. In the meanwhile I'd better get the new muses. (leaves)

Pikasqueaks: Right, so here's the list of TCF's Mega Man and Rockman fics. (winces) In case you're wondering, when it started posting the fic Fanficcer didn't know that Axess – a season of the show, MegaMan: NT Warrior (which means that, yes, TCF _has_ been misspelling the main character's name this whole fic) – took place in the same timeline… What I mean is, they do, but stuff happens in Axess that never happens in Battle Network 3. Also, they're twelve in this fic – according to TCF's screwed logic, that means that they'd be fourteen by BN6 and/or Beast – and in its fanficcing world, they coexist.

And now… Let's escape from my incoherent babbling.

Mega Man fanfics: CC, TGT, IM, UBIN, DFN, RP, WHA, RoM, FF, DCA, TLPC, KG, DoR

Rockman.exe fanfics: FD, TAN, DB, TT

Fanficcer: Hi everyone! I'm back. See, these are the new muses. (points to a yellow Acara walking beside it and a Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Moogle flying at its shoulder) This is Clara, and this is Magic.

Magic: Hi, everyone, kupo! I'm Fanficcer's conscience. Also, the Dark Rush says he's not a muse, kupo.

Clara: (eyes bugged out) And I thought Pikasqueaks was weird. (turns to readers) Anyway, I'm Clara and I work with TCF about its fanfics. I'm an Acara, from the online game Neopets.

Dark Rush: (suddenly appears) Technically, I'm not a muse _or_ a dark Rush. (glares pointedly at TCF, who averts his gaze) Now, it's time for us to tell you all a secret…

Magic: A random stupid secret of Fanficcer's life, kupo!

Clara: A random stupid secret of a gigantic mistake in Mega Man fanficcing. And no, it's not the fact that TCF has misspelled his name for the whole fic.

Pikasqueaks: It's the secret that… Fanficcer thought up a ZX fanfic before it played the game!

(audible gasp)

Fanficcer: (looks kind of guilty) Come on, muses! It's great for an AU story isn't it, Dark Rush?

Magic: (nods) It is, kupo, but you're still gonna have to do research.

Clara: More than just Wikipedia(dot)org.

Fanficcer: Random bonus thing before there's a renewal of my demented craziness and/or insanity... Principal Herman isn't scheduled to appear before TAN, but everyone else should appear by TGT.

Dark Rush: (rolls eyes) First of all, I'm not a dark Rush and/or a muse. Secondly, yeah – the fic's great. But don't start writing it when Pikasqueaks has his guard down as usual.

Pikasqueaks: Hey! (tries to hit him)

Dark Rush: (rolls away with the greatest of ease) You can't hit me. (pauses) I feel like I'm having a revelation, though. Think I'll go and drive random bad guys like Bass, Voldemort, Ganondorf, Darth Vader and Galbatorix up the wall. Don't know who's the big bad guy at the end of Tales of Symphonia, so I'll just randomly drive other characters up the wall instead.

Mysterious Voice: (floats out of the shadows) Oh no you don't…

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The Dark Rush cocks his head to the side as he watches the furious, incredibly out of character blond approach. For a softhearted Chosen One, she sure looks evil…and out of character. Anyway, up stomps the Chosen of Mana of Sylvarant Colette Brunel, flanked by – weirdly enough – her friends Lloyd and Genis.

The Dark Rush merely blinks and turns away. "What is it, Colette?" he asks her from where he's now turned toward Fanficcer and the three muses. "I always annoy you guys and you never mind."

"Yeah, well, for once we're angry!" cries the very OOC Colette, shaking a pale fist. When Lloyd and Genis give her blank looks, she rolls her eyes with a profound sigh and jabs herself in the chest with one finger. "Well, I am!"

"Right…" The Dark Rush trails off mildly without turning around. "Your point? After all, you must have an ulterior motive."

Colette settles down. "Yeah, I do," she says, wilting slightly before she perks up and begins heading toward Fanficcer. "And I'm gonna prove it."

"I don't like the looks of this!" Genis announces as he runs after the other two.

Meanwhile, Colette is busy cornering TCF, who – as the adjective suggests – is backed up completely in front a wardrobe where the Dark Rush shall commonly perch in the not-so-far future. "You!" the blonde snarls, mouth opened wide to reveal slightly pointed teeth. "You! Why were you so happy when you thought I wasn't an angel?"

TCF stammers, brought momentarily down by the glare of the Brunel. "I…uh… Well, you know, if you're not an angel then I can make you one!" Finally in its groove, it grins and flashes the peace sign and randomly begins dancing. "Holy Song! Holy Song! Holy Song!"

Lloyd looks weirded out. "Definition, Genis?"

The white-haired twelve year-old salutes before beginning. "One of Colette's angel techniques. And also--" here he pulls out a _Book of_ _Thecrazyfanficcer _from his blue tunic thing and begins leafing through it – "A fanfic where…"

But TCF answers for them. "Where Colette becomes an angel!" It pauses its crazed dancing to feel the said Chosen One's glaring, boring, piercing blue eyes. "That is if, uh, she's not already one!"

Pikasqueaks suddenly approaches, his totally irrelevant thoughts running like a forest wildfire. _Akumu and Commander have this story on their favourites lists. I wonder if this means I can annoy Chibi Forte or Megastarmon...or even Rose's Jerome... And is it just me, or am I thinking totally irrelevant thoughts?_

But then a none-too-familiar voice screeched into his mind: _Pika! No teasing around with other people's muses without their permission! And… Yes, you are being totally irrelevant._

Pikasqueaks rolled his eyes. That was pure Fanficcer for ya.

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A Moogle begins reciting, posed precariously atop the wardrobe by two back feet and no front paws.

"Once the excellent Tales of Symphonia (a video game for Gamecube and Playstation 2, kupo) characters had been intelligently taken away by Clara, kupo, TCF returned to its muses."

Interestingly enough, Fanficcer appears precisely two point five seconds after he said that.

"First of all, I'd like to thank the person who taught me pretty much all of my video game knowledge. (If it weren't for them, I'd be missing my GREATEST FANFIC EVER… You'll find out when I post it!) Secondly, I'd like to thank my loyal betas Terratasha, Fiinikkusu Akumu, Rose Kitsune.EXE, Jhvh777 and Star Holder Commander! And I'd like to thank…

ZiaA, Calenmarwen, RoseZephyr, Masked Dragonfly, Biggest Fan, RIVolleyball214, Chibi tanuki, Evy Sevin, Blizzardfur, Band8PGeek, Kawaii Saffy, Loonytunecrazy, Sn0zb0z, Dead Composer, JainaZekk621, Lady Suneidesis, Forest Girl Kaz, Anon e mus reviewer, KRP, Imposssibledreams2007, Conan98002, IcyWaters, Silver Horror, Yuko6754, Imeejidaiamondo, Firehedgehog, Carsonsheir, SciFiGirl13, Amythcrystal, Amber Komasaki, Off, Destiny Gamer, Dragonkey258, Flower petals falling, Fortune Hunter, Mister Frodo, Z Girl Warrior, Emeralddragonfire, Hermionegranger965, Watevr, Miss Pookamonga, Ri-kun, Fox-Tailed Saiyan, ShinigamiLenne, Emile Stone - Quit , Mak, Shadowneko003 and Fanofthemoon88!

Clara's eyes are wide. "I never realized there are that many people who read your stories, reviewed and/or put them on their favourites lists and/or put them on their alerts lists." She pauses before looking back up at Fanficcer. "Speaking of which… Isn't there something else to say?"

"Too true, kupo," squeaks Magic, cocking his head toward Fanficcer, balancing on one foot as he extends the other toward TCF in a beckoning motion. "Your favourite categories, y'know, kupo?"

"True…" Fanficcer's eyes mist over in its love of all fan fiction. "I like almost every fanfic I read, even if it's a category I don't know about. But I do like Danny Phantom, Artemis Fowl, Rockman.exe (DUH! It's the same thing as this category but better!), Kingdom Hearts, Tales of Symphonia (Why else would I have mentioned it?), Final Fantasy and other random things that you guys might like." It winks mysteriously. "Also… I see Rock approaching."

Sure enough, the seventeen Cyberyear-old blue bomber from five years after this fic – none other than Rockman.exe of Fiddling with Destiny – appears in front of Fanficcer, green, vibrant eyes slit and Buster arm extended. (Though one'd wonder why he actually still has it after all these years. What, no more cool Navi updates?) "All right, TCF, spill the beans," he threatens, also incredibly out of character. "What's the single category that comes closest to EXE/Battle Network/NT Warrior?"

Fanficcer magically produces a _Book of Thecrazyfanficcer _out of nowhere even under threat of that deadly blue Buster. "Well, I have too many Tactics Advance stories," it mutters under its breath as Rock/Mega's Buster lightly taps its forehead, "but I don't want to think up any more." It continues flipping through the pages till it comes to what it wants.

"Aha." Fanficcer straightens and stares down Rockman in spite of the cannon-gun thingy now pressing onto its shadowed forehead. "Here it comes… The category that should hopefully come the closest to Rockman.exe is…"

Rock tensed. _Wait for it…_

"Harry Potter."

Rockman actually smacks himself in the face. "I shoulda known," he mutters, as Fanficcer grins and flashes the peace sign with random cries of "Peace out, y'all!"

And the rest, as they say, is history. History, dear readers and/or reviewers and/or betas, in a Navi's world.

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Fanficcer: Oh, and, in case you're wondering... I started this fic last November. I stopped in June when I wrote the original epilogue, continued again in August, and wrote this last chappie on Friday. Most of it, at any rate. The good thing is, I now have a twenty thousand-word French story to continue posting.

Pikasqueaks: (eyes are gigantic) Twenty thousand words? In French?!

Fanficcer: Actually, it's (retrieves document on computer) as of the moment 18103 words, including chapter titles and the part I already posted. I should finish it soon though.

Pikasqueaks: Ack! (runs away)

Clara: I thought he knew French.

Magic: So'd I, kupo, but then again -- this _Pikasqueaks _we're talking about.

Fanficcer: Ahem. Yes. It appears that the Dark Rush has left again. Speaking of which, it's time for another moment of truth...

Magic: Ryuusei no Rockman, kupo!

Fanficcer: That's right. Ryuusei no Rockman is an upcoming Mega Man game. The show came out October 7th and the game is coming out this December, both in Japan -- it won't be coming here for a while yet. When it does, it'll be called -- as Akumu pointed out before -- MegaMan: Star Force. Anyway, it looks a lot cooler than Battle Network/NT Warrior. What I mean to say is that there's a lot of astronomic stuff and that the main character, Subaru, looks cooler than Lan. In all, I think this game (maybe series someday) has a brighter future than Exe/Battle Network/NT Warrior.

Subaru: Yay! (dances)

Fanficcer: He also reminds me of a Digimon character.

Subaru: (suddenly wilting) Please don't tell me it's because of the Visualizer.

Fanficcer: ...Hey, be happy you have a future suit, all right? I mean, Lan has a sweater, a jacket, shorts, a headband and roller blades. Your outfit's much cooler -- but I have to say... It would be cool to wear shorts every day. (grins evilly and flashes the peace sign)

Pikasqueaks: (coming back) And Rockman.exe is TCF's favourite fanficcing category -- for now...

Fanficcer: (oblivious to what he just said) And now let's balk down and hail the awesomely great and ultimately cool Butch Hartman!

(Random Mega Man/Rockman characters glare at it)

Fanficcer: I mean, uh, Keiji Inafune! He invented Mega Man and it belongs to him, not me! Happy fanficcing and let the world ring with the craziness of fanficcers worldwide!

Subaru: I hope I don't have to live through this insanity in the future. (rolls eyes)

Muses (and Dark Rush): Happy fanficcing and may the Force be with you!

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**The French fanfic's been finished since I wrote that, but I'm gonna have to do a lot of editing in the remaining I-don't-know-how-many-chapters before I finish posting it. I should start posting my next Mega Man fanfic -- initialed TGT -- sometime around spring. **

**And if the Dark Rush confuses you, so be it!**


End file.
